Ordinary World
by Artificial Dreams
Summary: Pairings: Haseo/Silabus. Alkaid/Atoli. Pi/Kuhn. After a close encounter with a "bug," Silabus overhears Atoli and Haseo discussing something called "AIDA." What is AIDA, and why hasn't Haseo ever mentioned it to him...?
1. What Has Happened Me?

**Final Pairings**: Haseo/Silabus, Alkaid/Atoli, (more to be decided later)  
**Summary**: After an AIDA attack ruining a perfectly good leveling opportunity, Atoli and Haseo agree that continuing in the area could be dangerous for their normal player friends - Gaspard, Silabus, and Alkaid. However, overhearing their discussion Silabus himself can't help but wonder... what is AIDA, and why hasn't Haseo mentioned it to him?

* * *

Leveling up was usually a strangely calming process for him. Get angry, beat the data out of non-existent beings (or PKers, almost the same thing), and feel better about his day after having slaughtered almost every creature in sight (also including PKers, if and when they were available for slaughtering). Yet today, Haseo was finding the process of leveling up to be more… annoying than relieving. Perhaps, though, this was because when he came to the field with his two party members (who felt the need to joke around the whole time) he was in an apologetic mood yet from the looks of it there was no need for such emotions. No one was unhappy, and the two were just laughing away as though everything was right in The World. _See, this is exactly why I hate apologizing…_ his thoughts resounded his irritation, as did his rather silent strikes at the monsters. Just what was he fighting, anyway? As if he was paying attention to any of that. Not that he could concentrate on anything, with those two's incessant chatter overriding the background music.

"…and then she came back the next day with three of her friends! I felt kind of bad though for having to explain to her that parties can only consist of three players…" Silabus trailed, sheathing his blade while Atoli chuckled softly at the story. If there was one topic those two always ended up on, it was assisting fellow players. As a Harvest Cleric, Atoli provided support for various parties and was always ready and willing to help anyone in need of some healing. On the similar end of the spectrum, Silabus was dedicated to the Canard rule of helping out newbies when any were in need. As a result, whenever the two got together their conversation would revolve around how much each enjoyed dutifully assisting other players.

There were times Haseo would just get flat-out sick of these discussions the two would have. Not today though! Instead, he held his tongue and tried to merely help these two level-up. Atoli, because as a Harvest Cleric she was most often ideal prey for wandering PKers - her low defense and hit point stats made her an easy target despite the fact she had healing magic and a high SP gauge. If one was PKed before he or she could heal themselves, what was the point? On the other hand, if she was at a high-enough level they would consider leaving her be. For one, the attacks would still be effective but her chances of survival would be increased, followed by her managing to send out a short mail to the player who obviously helped her reach such statistical heights. In other words, let them know she had friends in high places.

As for Silabus… well… Haseo sighed, and kicked open the treasure chest which revealed the trio had finally gathered all three of the Symbol Fragments to make the Judge's Symbol. The Blade Brandier leveled up very, very slowly. Traveling to low-level areas with beginning players provided a minimal amount of experience so the Adept Rogue would not have been surprised if getting to the next level literally took Silabus days to accomplish. Not that the brunette even seemed to care, as his idea of fun was dealing with little teenyboppers who spoke in both fragmented words and sentences, and had not the faintest idea as to what they were doing. In other words, babysitting. _Instead of a journalist, he should really consider being a kindergarten teacher…_ he thought with a slight smirk.

"What are you thinking about over there?" Atoli piped up, making yet another attempt to drag Haseo back into their conversation.

"I think someone is secretly having fun." Alkaid teased from her party a few ways off. Near her chasing several Chim Chims were both Gaspard and Bo, who had stopped trading Crimson VS secrets the moment the blue little critters were knocked from their tree via a certain Twin Blade's well-placed kick. Initially she had planned on doing her own leveling up with maybe Sirius, but then she received a short mail from Silabus requesting her help. Gaspard and Bo had wanted to come along as well, namely to hang out with Haseo, but neither felt safe going to the types of dungeons aforementioned Adept Rogue tended to choose with the two being the only party members. Naturally, Alkaid could not turn down such a request, and invited the two into her party so she could follow along. She rolled her eyes. _Dedicate a day to leveling up, and instead I'm working as a bodyguard for not one, but TWO Shadow Warlocks… and they're both kids!_ Gaspard was thirteen. Bo was eleven. But, she was willing do it for… but only because Silabus had asked her! There was no ulterior motive when she heard about who else was coming along!

"And I think someone else is being delusional." Haseo growled, the amusement he had a second ago completely having now been completely obliterated. Actions spoke louder than words though - his expression showed annoyance but his body language clearly revealed that Alkaid had been right on the mark: he was annoyed, starting to get cranky, but even so he was enjoying the change of pace. Of the six players only three were aware of AIDA, and those in particular could not think of anything more relaxing than playing the world with normal players who had no idea about the dangers that lurked in such a remarkable fantasy. The whole adventure served as both a reminder of what needed to be protected, but also the original reason all three had been drawn to The World in the first place. To have fun.

"I wonder if this is what it's like to be Lord Zelkova?" Gaspard wondered out loud, earning all eyes on him. He 'eeped,' and shyly moved his hand to scratch the back of his head. "W-well… on Apkallu… one of my favourite artists is Fuchu… and once she drew this picture of Lord Kaede finishing off monsters, while Lord Zelkova chased Chim Chims… kind of like Bo and myself right with Alkaid…" The little pink Beast explained sheepishly, and Bo seemed to consider that for a moment.

"Oh… maybe later, after Saku has her turn again, I'll go look Fuchu up on Apkallu…" Bo murmured quietly, contemplating visiting the artist's forum. "So that I know what you're talking about…"

"Or, if you like, I could e-mail the picture to you later on?" Gaspard offered suddenly, before looking back down shyly. "Actually, I could send you the link to another artist as well, Julias… he actually drew some fanart of you, once before. It's really good!" The older Shadow Warlock continued, still acting awkwardly towards the other.

"U-uhm… okay." Bo nodded, giving his consent. From the shy expression he wore as well, along with the faint smile Alkaid quirked a brow over at the two. For a pair who only began talking recently, the two were getting along remarkably well. _Must be the similarity in age… _she reasoned. Watching from their section, Atoli smiled as she watched the two boys.

"It looks like Bo is really excited to see that picture. I guess I can't blame him, I would be too if someone drew fanart of my character! Well… someone did before, but it was such a gloomy picture…" The blonde sighed, looking down.

"Aww, don't be so downcast Atoli. I'm sure he or she drew it in hopes of making you feel better. You know, showing that they care in their own special way?" Silabus offered, and blinked when noticing Haseo was starting to trudge off towards the temple. "Oh, hey! Wait up!" The Blade Brandier called, hurrying after their party leader with Atoli hurrying after. While those three entered the temple to collect the treasure, outside Alkaid went back to entertaining her charges with more Chim Chims. Personally, she preferred kicking Lucky Animals - there was more of a challenge to it, but whatever made the two kids happy. Taking a moment of silence, she slowly realized that those two had probably reached the max number of Chim Spheres. She placed a hand to her forehead, and released a heavy sigh. _Kids…_

Opening the door, Haseo stopped to stare with Atoli and Silabus pausing next to him curiously. "Oh… is that a bug?" The brunette inquired curiously, before furrowing his brows. "We should probably report this to CC Corps techs…" He murmured, staring at the pulsating black amorphous blob. Atoli gave a small gasp, and turned to the Adept Rogue.

"Y-yeah… would you mind?" Atoli requested, turning to the brunette who merely nodded. Setting his status as 'busy' he quickly went about typing a bug report, including the location (Θ Graceful Obsessive Phoenix) along with a description of the 'bug.' As he kept busy with his typing, the blonde nodded to Haseo who cast a briefest glare over at the AIDA. He went out of his way to make time to hang with his non-G.U. affiliated friends, and somehow the dirty work landed in his lap anyway. Ever since Gaspard and Silabus had expressed, however subtly, that the two missed going on quests with Haseo he had been feeling, well… guilty. It was a strange, torn feeling. In order to protect them, he had to spend his time ensuring his friend's and the other player's safety… but because he spent his time on that, he had no time to spend with those he protected.

"Come on… come on… I'm right, here! Skeith!" And with his summoning, the Avatar appeared while placing itself, Haseo, and the AIDA on a plane where the two could collide. As Skeith whipped out his scythe to slice relentlessly at the foreign blob, Atoli watched with a slight frown. Ever since her own Epitaph had been stolen, seeing the AIDA brought her a sense of unease. She knew now how to combat the creatures, and that Haseo was rather well-practiced in combat against them… but even so, that dormant fear that resides in anyone who experienced trauma would linger there no matter how many years passed or how brave they became. Finishing up the report, Silabus removed his busy signal only to see Haseo's character seemingly frozen. _Is his computer lagging? Wow, haven't seen that happen in The World in a long while… wonder if his virus protection software is running a scan?_

A minute more passed before Haseo's character moved again, and he let out a rather disgruntled sound. The brunette had not quite heard anything like it, which made him chuckle slightly and attracted the attention of his two party members. "Sorry… oh, and I sent the report!" He announced, before his eyes traveled to where the 'bug' no longer marred the graphics Piros the 3rd was so vainly proud of. "…wow, I never knew the techs there worked so fast!"

"Heheh… yeah, they're something aren't they?" Atoli laughed nervously, and patted the brunette on the shoulder.

"Oh, and Haseo…" Silabus began, getting crimson eyes to land on him to show he was being listened to. "You should really check up on your computer. The way you sounded, it seems like that isn't the first time you experienced lag." He suggested, smiling brightly at the Adept Rogue as usual. All Haseo could do was stare at the other male, the gears slowly beginning to shift as he realized that was all it looked like to a normal player. A bug and lag. Inform the techs, and everything is all fixed and peachy. An AIDA-infected player just appeared to be a really skilled hacker who wanted to modify his or her character outside of the boundaries CC Corp attempted to set. "Anyway, who wants the treasure? I have a full inventory, so I can't carry anymore…"

"Why is your inventory full?" Atoli asked, mostly to try and ensure the conversation was as far from the supposed lag as possible, if only for Haseo's sake. "Oh, and I'm fine! Thanks to you and Haseo, I can use my Dancing Haze Stave now! See? Equipping now!" She announced, and then clapped her hands together. "I'm perfectly content!"

"That's good to hear! And actually, it's a bit embarrassing… apparently one of the newbies I helped a few days ago is new to the game herself, but her brother had been playing for awhile… so she asked him for some items, and then sent them to me as a gift for helping her. Although, what I don't understand is why she didn't ask her brother for help…" Silabus trailed, his visage reflecting his curiosity as he thought on this unusual scenario. Atoli could not help but giggle a bit at the brunette, as Haseo simply rolled his eyes. How the Blade Brandier never figured it out, Haseo really wanted to know. To live such an oblivious lifestyle at that age (yes, because nineteen is considered old) was beyond his comprehension. Were not college students supposed to be smart and mature?

"I guess that just leaves you, Haseo!" Atoli concluded, looking to their party leader. With a shake of his head, the Adept Rogue made his way over to the treasure chest in order to kick it open. Sometimes, he wondered if he was always the one who ended up getting the treasure because everyone else was so bent on gaining his approval. That had been a problem with Atoli in the beginning, and during his second job change even Silabus refused to answer whether or not he saw Haseo as being 'mad all the time.' The Blade Brandier and Gaspard simply changed the subject before quickly hurrying from the scene. He was not angry all of the time! Although the fact his eye was twitching as he thought this acted as a counter to his own argument. Honestly, he did not need people constantly trying to appease him so he would not start yelling at them. He rarely yelled.

"Hey, Haseo…" Atoli began, taking tentative steps towards him. Once the item was in his inventory, the Adept Rogue glanced briefly back at her. She approached closer, and while Silabus was in the background a bit confused and curious as to why the Harvest Cleric was acting in such a fashion he remained where he stood. No sense in intruding, right? "We should probably gather everyone else outside… and just head back to Town. With AIDA having shown up like that, I would think it to be a good idea to speak with Master Yata about it… I mean, no one else warned us about a signal, did they? It's kind of dangerous to continue…"

Her words merely made him sigh, shoulders slumping. True enough. Make time, and then AIDA went and took it away. Even though Haseo knew that Silabus and Gaspard would not take it personally, and Alkaid would probably be relieved there was still a sense of guilt. He had promised everyone to help them level-up, and now he was going back on that promise. _I'm always worried about others betraying me, but lately it just feels like I'm betraying them instead…_ "All right." He muttered, and turned around to face Silabus who all this while was wondering what in The World was AIDA and who this Master Yata was. _Are those talking about a role-play? Haseo never struck me as the type, but I wouldn't be surprised with Atoli…_ The Blade Brandier thought, his thoughts placing reason when there was none. "Hey, listen… something just came up. I'm sorry I can't help you guys any further."

"Hey, it's no problem Haseo! Things happen. Besides, it's a school night isn't it?" Silabus reminded the other, smiling knowingly when he saw the Adept Rogue's eyes widen in sudden realization. The brunette chuckled, and crossed his arms. "I thought you forgot… you mentioned how you wanted everyone to get up at least ten more levels. You know how long it takes to get there." He continued, and continued smiling away in amusement at now both Atoli and Haseo who seemed to be in more of a rush to leave the temple now. Apparently the seventeen-year old was not the only one who forgot… _Wonder if the urgent thing is their RP? Maybe Atoli came up with a new plotline… Aida, huh?_

_--_

As it turned out, disassembling the parties was the best idea to be had. Saku's turn came around, and within seconds the scene was obvious to all who watched that between her and Alkaid nothing would end well. The two girls argued, glared, and expressed an overall disdain for one another. Silabus had to keep a hand clamped over his mouth to stifle a laugh, not wanting to get caught up in the girls rather venomous argument. Atoli raced to cover Gaspard's ears from the string of, ahem, less than savory words that Alkaid was releasing upon the little girl. Not that the 'little girl' seemed to mind very much, as she would merely smirk and toss back an insult with just as much bite but without the usage of cruder language. Onlookers could only assume the restraint on Saku's end was likely because in the real world Bo was probably still in the same room, probably protesting her roughly shoving him off.

"Wow… never realized how alike you two were until now." Haseo smirked, a sardonic expression finding its way onto his face as he watched the two girls fight with text. The two immediately whirled on him, eyes narrowed with looks that clearly stated if he dared to provoke them any further the two would collaborate long enough to PK him, followed by then attempting to PK each other. Suddenly, Haseo decided to stay out of their 'conversation' and look over to Gaspard, the only member of that particular party available to explain what started such ruckus.

"Uhm…" The beast started, before looking between the other three in a silent request that they would protect him on the off-chance that the two women felt he was being biased towards one over the other. Silabus gave him an encouraging nod, now finding his mind distracted from the display of female violence while Haseo sighed and moved closer to provide the little Shadow Warlock a more reassurance presence. "Well… Saku just popped on, and wanted to know why she wasn't in a party with Endrance… and, well… you know how Alkaid gets about Endrance sometimes. That's how it started, but now…" With a pudgy-faced pout, he looked over at the two.

"It digressed to a catfight. Just great." Haseo buried his face in his hand, shaking his head at the ridiculousness of this all. Then, an idea struck him. "Hey, Saku." That was it. Both girls whirled on him a second time, flames in both of their eyes as the two prepared to force the 'Terror of Death' to know the sweet taste of defeat. "I need to contact Endrance. Would you mind joining me?"

"Why, of course!" Saku's tune and face switched faster than a con artist did identities. "Are we going to be leveling up with Master En?" She asked sweetly, looking up to Haseo. But he knew that look. The look clearly stated, 'and by we I mean Master En and myself naturally, you're just deadweight that I am using to get closer to my beloved.' For a little girl, she was frightening. He pitied the fool who felt safe in attacking her. On the other end of the spectrum, Alkaid looked ready to kill. In particular, Haseo. Why was he taking HER side? The little brat's?! Her body shook with a silent rage, and the fact that she and the Adept Rogue were in entirely separate parties made the temptation to strike him down all the more tempting. An afterthought arose, however, as she realized this also meant she would have to fight Silabus and Atoli. Begrudgingly, she took a deep breath to calm herself. There were bigger fish to fry, although in more realistic standards the 'bigger' fish was actually the smallest out of the six players. _I bet in the real world she's a ganguro in training…!_ The redhead could not forgive that child so easily, oh no. She would find a way to make her pay, dearly… but the trick with that was, to make sure when she exacted her revenge it would be against Saku, rather than Bo whose feelings would be deeply wounded.

"Uhm… are you guys going to continue leveling up?" Atoli asked them hesitantly, looking over at Alkaid, Gaspard, and Silabus. The blonde squeaked when receiving a disapproving look from Haseo and she immediately realized her mistake. Someone was in a foul mood because his evening plans had been interrupted, and now Atoli was offering those plans to someone else. She looked down, clasping her hands together by her thighs as a sudden rush of guilt filled her chest. _I'm sorry, Haseo…_

"Only if those two want, I guess." Alkaid rolled her shoulders in a careless, indifferent shrug. "I know Sirius definitely wants to do some hardcore leveling, so if one or neither wants to join us I don't mind." She continued, and quickly began composing a short mail to the former Holy Palace Emperor. The moment she mentioned 'hardcore leveling' a shiver ran down both Silabus and Gaspard's spine. She grinned, noting the subtle fear between the two best friends who exchanged nervous glances. The way Atoli spoke, Saku and Haseo were not the only ones who would be tracking Endrance down for 'leveling.' That was not it, that much she did know. Inviting Endrance along was just a distraction for the little snot-nosed brat, but the Adept Rogue's true motive was unclear. What was the real reason? Regardless, Alkaid at least understood that Atoli made a mistake suggesting everyone to continue the plans without Haseo, who did not respond well. The redhead had to save the blonde somehow, and what better way than to teasingly scare the brunette and pink-haired beast? Atoli was, after all, her reason for agreeing to such a ridiculous request anyway… teasing the blonde was far more entertaining (and cute) than hanging out with Sirius.

"U-uhm… we're good. Th-thanks for the offer though, Alkaid!" Silabus stammered, making an awkward smile over at her. He knew she meant well, but what kind of leveling was she thinking of? A ping resounded, simultaneously between Alkaid and Haseo showing each received a short mail response.

"Too bad! See you!" Alkaid provided a careless wave to accompany her words. With a quick flick of her wrist she removed both Gaspard and Saku from her party as she hurried towards the Warp Gate. In the matter of a sound effect and blue rings, her character was whisked away to town. Haseo merely rolled his eyes at her, before releasing his monopoly on Silabus and Atoli.

"Come on Atoli, Saku." Haseo motioned for the two to follow, and the two girls hurried after him to meet up with Endrance.

_Hey Atoli… could you send a short mail to Pi and Kuhn? I'll be sending a short mail to Yata so he knows we're coming, and one to Saku so she's a bit more informed._

The short mail sent off to the blonde, she jumped hearing the pink announcing the quick arrival of The World's instant messaging system. Instant indeed. Far more accurate to the word than, for example, instant noodles. The noodles were not instant. One had to boil the water first, at least, before one could eat them. Hence, the claim those noodles were instant was a blatant lie. Much like the cake. Only, the cake was not as obvious with its lying. Digressions aside, Atoli breezed through before nodding. A moment later Saku quirked an irritated brow at the short mail she received. Blowing out an annoyed sigh, she rolled her eyes. After a quick Warp to Δ Mac Anu, Haseo quickly added Saku into his party followed by Endrance, of whom he received a short mail from informing everyone he was waiting in front of the HOME's doors.

"I was wondering what came up." Saku suddenly spoke up, walking purposefully in front of Haseo and Atoli. "You NEVER just leave Silabus like that. Too afraid of Kuhn coming after you." She continued, and gave a sly grin over at the Adept Rogue who merely scowled at her statement. "Well, Gaspard too… but more so Silabus. I got it!" She snapped her fingers, and gave the evilest grin ever to be seen on such an adorable face. "You suck in literature, so you bum off a college student for free tutoring! Hah! I knew you were an idiot Haseo, but really!" As she continued, Haseo's frown deepened as his red orbs stared at her while imagining Saku spontaneously combusting. Boom. No more grating little girl, only a sweet little Bo who meant well to anyone and everyone. But then… who would protect Bo when Haseo was not around? That was Saku's most redeeming feature: despite her bully-like personality, she was very protective of Bo… in her own, weird sort of way. The girl was selfish, and completely obsessed with Endrance. Yet, she was also a good sister whenever Bo needed her.

"I don't think that's the reason Saku…" Atoli started, her tone quiet. The guilt was still there from earlier, completely unable to let it go even though Haseo already seemed over it. She sighed, shaking her head. Probably because Alkaid turned down the offer. The blonde was unsure if she should be grateful or angry with the redhead. _Depends on whether she meant to save my skin or not, I guess…_ the blonde reasoned silently.

"Oh? Then how else would you explain such a phenomenon?" Saku asked the Harvest Cleric slyly, a smirk slowly creeping up her childish face. The wider that smirk became, the more ill-at-ease Atoli found herself, all the while wondering if Saku was the embodiment of bad karma. Do something wrong, and suddenly the girl was there and doing everything in her cute little power to make a good day go bad. "Unless you think…"

"Oh, Haseo…" Endrance interrupted in his usual, breathless voice as he approached the group. As usual, the Adept Rogue ignored the fashion he was most often addressed by this particular Blade Brandier and merely pretended Endrance reacted this way to everyone. Atoli merely flushed, strongly due to embarrassment for the former Demon Palace Emperor rather than the fact one man was so blatantly expressing his romantic feelings for another. Saku, on the other hand, began fuming immediately. "I've been waiting for you…" The Blade Brandier continued, smiling affectionately at the silver-haired man who continued to somehow ignore such an expression. _He's an NPC, he's an NPC, he's NPC…_ Haseo probably could have formulated a better tactic for being able to adjust to the blunette's interest.

"Hey Master En!" Saku spoke up brightly, attempting her most dazzling smile up at the tall character. Personally, Atoli found herself a bit relieved that Endrance expressed so little interest in Saku. From what she understood, the player behind Endrance was around twenty which made him easily nine years older than Saku. While an interest in shouta was questionable, the blonde knew that the man was at least not interested in loli. "It's been awhile, hasn't it? Haseo was talking about us going to level up afterwards, right Haseo?" She continued, and in-between her gracious smile offered up to Endrance she shot a glare over at the Adept Rogue. Rather than be intimidated, instead he smirked which confused the girl.

"Well, maybe if it isn't too late… although, by the time we're done even if we do have enough leftover to go adventuring…" Haseo's smirk turned malicious. "I'm pretty sure it'll be Bo's turn on the computer. Won't it?" He asked, and could only widen his expression watching the girl seethe as she realized how easily he had tricked her. Ping!

_You can bet I'll make you regret doing this to me in front of Master En later! No, in fact… YOU CAN COUNT ON IT YOU MALISCIOUS, DECEITFUL ROGUE! Such slime is not worthy of Master En's affections! …_

Around that point Haseo ceased reading, as her short mail to him was… not short. In fact, the mail was surprisingly long and mostly full of name calling he was just not in the mood to read. Maybe later, for the lulz. "…Haseo?" Atoli called, watching the Adept Rogue carefully. He snapped up, realizing he had ignored everyone else due to the distraction. Saku tossed him a smug look, obviously pleased with herself even though Haseo had the sneaking suspicion that was not the revenge she had intended and her threat still remained. _Stupid little girl…_

"Sorry. Nothing left to do, but go in… right?" Haseo inquired, and headed into the HOME with everyone else. _Maybe… maybe tomorrow, we can try leveling up again…_

_--_

"Hey, Gaspard…" Silabus began, standing next to the pink beast with his arms crossed over his chest. A few players passing by offered waves, and the brunette returned their waves along with a soft smile. The players consisted of three girls, all of which visited quite often. In fact, they had never visited the shop until the trio learned the shop was owned by the legendary Terror of Death. The girls assumed this meant Haseo probably tossed all of his older weapons into the shop once he was on a high-enough level to use a newer one, or had too large of a collection due to taking down so many PKers. On the former, the girls were correct. The latter, not so much. Actually, Silabus had not heard about 'the Terror of Death' prowling around specifically for any PKers in months. He smiled softly to himself. True, Haseo still fought with PKers, but as of late the reasons usually were because the PKers attacked the Adept Rogue first or a low-leveled character needed assistance against a PKer. Actually, he could remember a couple of times when he was helping a few newbies learn the basics of Field Areas when a few Player Killers hiding inside the Beast Temple jumped them. Silabus sent out a quick short mail to Haseo, requesting assistance if the other was not too busy. If the brunette had one complaint about The World, it was the fact that one could not logout while in a dungeon of any type which left the three players at the complete mercy of their relentless attackers.

In no time flat, there arrived Haseo crashing through the Battle Barrier with Twin Blades at the ready and saving the three-person party from the Player Killers. At the recollection, Silabus could not help but smile softly to himself. _Haseo…_ actually, one of the times the Adept Rogue brought Atoli along so she could heal everyone while Haseo took care of their problem. _You really are a great Guild Master for Canard…_ How much had the seventeen-year old grown since Silabus first met him? The Haseo he knew now was almost like an entirely different person, with often the clearest sign that the Haseo now and the Haseo then were the same with the random bouts of a bad temper. Even that was fading though, as the Adept Rogue matured further each and everyday. The brunette was both proud of him, and a bit sad… because even though Haseo was growing more responsible and maturing, it also felt like the other was drifting further away. There was a time when Haseo was reluctant to join a Quest because he felt Gaspard and Silabus would slow him down, rather than hesitant to join because of whatever reason that kept the silver-haired player s busy as of late.

_Aida…_ Silabus furrowed his brows. _Is that what's been keeping him busy? The role-play with Atoli…? But he never mentioned it to me… _"Uhm… Gaspard?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah?" The beast jolted from his own thoughts, and straightened himself before turning to look his best friend in the eye. "Is there something you need? There's a few Blades here, if you want first dibs." Gaspard gave the other wink, a sign this was a 'special shop discount.' And by special shop discount, this meant a total freebie. If one knew how expensive these items were usually sold as, anyone would jump at the chance. Instead, the brunette gave his usual kind smile and declined the offer. Of the blades, Haseo gave Endrance and Silabus first picks and then tossed the rest to the shop so there was no point in even looking through. Plus, considering he worked at the shop the free item would end up right back where it started.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you something…" Silabus started, before hesitating briefly. Was there even any point? If Haseo had not even bothered mentioning it to him, why would he talk to Gaspard about the role-play? Not that there was anything wrong with Gaspard! Just… Silabus and the beast were almost joined at the hip, and if Gaspard knew anything about the reason behind Haseo's busy schedule surely the pink beast would have shared the information with the brunette? Instead, he changed the course of the conversation to another question he was just as curious about. "What are you thinking about? You're so spaced out…" He chuckled, and patted the thirteen-year old fondly on the head.

"Oh! Uhm… well…" Gaspard's face quickly went from pink to red. This surprised Silabus, causing his brows to shoot straight up. What got the other so worked up? He knew he could tell anything to the brunette, and not have to worry about being judged. Then… what was up with the sudden shy exterior? "Y-you see… about earlier today…"

"Yes?" Silabus nodded, gently nudging the other to continue whenever he was ready. Gaspard took a deep breath and then released it,

"IfoundmyselfthinkinghowcuteBowasandnowIcannotstopthinkingabouthimand OOOHHhhhhhh Silabus what do I do?" Moaning, the beast clutched his head while his face turned a darker shade of red and Silabus stood trying to comprehend what exactly the other had just said. All he got was 'Bo' and 'I' and the last part of the sentence with enough of a pause between words to understand.

"Well… I would love to tell you, but I have no idea what you just told me." Silabus laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head awkwardly as the beast continued to bemoan over whatever had him distracted. _No… wait… it couldn't be, could it…?_ "No… uhm… Gaspard, are you… trying to tell me you think you might like Bo?" Surprised? Yes. Disgusted? Not really. How the brunette figured it, Gaspard was at that age where everything was incredibly confusing. Whether what he felt was real or not, the brunette did not and personally did not care. If liking Bo was indeed the case, Silabus decided to offer the other his full support. The young teen had helped Silabus through his hard times, and it was only natural he was there for the other.

"…y-yes…" Gaspard sniffled, and buried his face into his hands as he felt the shame.

"W-well… what about Yayoi?" Silabus inquired, gently as he could. Easier to help the other sort out what was going on, while also placing a comforting and reassuring hand on the other's back.

"Sh-she turned me down…" Gaspard continued to sniffle, and wiped his snout with his arm. As large tears welled up in his eyes, he looked to the brunette. "D-do you think… I just like Bo b-because he was there… a-after she turned me down?" He whimpered.

"It is possible… but you could just merely be attracted to Bo." Silabus told the beast softly, and rubbed Gaspard's back. "This is one of those things you should probably examine over a period of time, rather than jump to conclusions early on… if you like though, I can take you and Bo out on Quests together." He offered, smiling down at the other. "Bo is usually happy to do quests, and he's always excited to join Haseo's parties…"

"D-do you really think so…? Oh, you're the best!" Gaspard cheered, and immediately jumped up to hug his taller friend around the waist. "We'll figure it out, together!"

"It's a deal then!" Silabus laughed. _Although… I can't help but wonder. Is Gaspard ruling Saku into any of this?_

* * *

**Disclaimer**: _Jedi-like wave of hand_ Hyper Pegasus does not, in any way, claim ownership of the dotHack series. She is not affiliated with it, however much her desire to someday work with such wonderful character designers who provide men with sexy, child-bearing hips. The dotHack series belongs to Bandai-Namco.  
**Writer's Comments**: _Poses_ Why hello there ducklings! Officially, this takes place during .hack//G.U. Vol.2//Reminisce, shortly after the Holy Palace Tournament (and before crazy catman contacts you). HOWEVER! _Holds a finger up_ I have made a few alterations. If you have any questions about them, or an explanation as to why I will be more than happy to oblige. Essentially, this entire story was inspired when Kuhn was all like, "Hey. Haseo. Come help me beat up this AIDA. BTW BRING A THIRD PERSON OF YOUR CHOICE!" So like the deranged fangirl I was, I dragged Silabus along. And then, Haseo and Kuhn talked so openly about AIDA in front of him, and NO ONE CARED.


	2. Crazy, Some Would Say

_Looking to start a "World" Role-Play!__ -Ill Literate_

_My friend and I have recently joined "The World" and love the game! Anyone out there up for getting "in-character" and partaking in an adventure in the game itself? Leave a comment with your characters personality, and such! It's a great way to know just how into your story and character you can get! _

_Re: Looking to start a "World" Role-Play!__ -period S _

_Are you sure this is the right forum…? Anyway, I would love to join you! What time, and are we meeting up in a Town or Area? _

_Character Personality: Determined, a bit slow, but absolutely dedicated! _

_Re: Looking to start a "World" Role-Play!__ -Ill Literate_

_Oh… oh gosh! You're right! We'll be meeting up at ΔMac Anu. How about in front of the HOME area? No… definitely there! Yeah! I gotta go for now, but when I get back from school later I'll share with you guys the name for it! Got it from another player!_

_Re: Looking to start a "World" Role-Play!__ -Silabus_

_Hey again Literate! I see you're adjusting to "The World" just fine! You are already hitting the forums. I was curious… the name of the RP would not be called Aida or something like that would it?_

_Aida?__ -Ill Literate_

_Silabus! Did you receive my Gift all right? Thanks again for the help! My brother is suuuuuch a jerk! Are you thinking about joining? Aida? Huh? Never heard of it. No ours is, "Candy Store!" _

_Re: Aida?__ -Silabus_

_I did, thank you once more. Sorry about your brother, you two should try to get along more. : ) No, I was just curious about the title. Be safe out in those Dungeons! You have my Member Address if you need any help leveling. _

Releasing a breath, Yuuichi, the player behind Silabus, leaned back further in his chair. Since the other day, after he heard Atoli and Haseo talking, the question of 'aida' would not leave him alone. His thoughts were insistent on finding out, which had ultimately led him to browsing the forums. Just uploading a topic titled, "Aida?" made him feel a bit on the ridiculous side. Whenever he became tempted to start one, his common sense kicked into overdrive. What if Haseo saw? Then the Adept Rogue would get peeved (as he usually did over this or that) at how nosy his friend was being. "I can't help it though…" He murmured, and swung his icons to settle on The World's logo. Just when he had just started really enjoying Haseo's presence, it all felt like the other began to drift away… further, and further away. Yuuichi closed his eyes as he tried to get out of his mood in order to be his usual friendly self online.

Gaspard was a wonderful friend, perhaps his very best. But at the same time, he was six years Gaspard's senior. The little ball of pink would be going into high school soon, with entrance exams looming off in the horizon. Naturally, he had offered Gaspard his assistance in studying but that was not the same as hanging out just to have fun. Even so, sometimes the age gap was apparent. His friend was still undergoing both physical and mental maturity, whereas Silabus was nearing the end of that particular stage in his life. Talking with Haseo was different, usually. Sure, sometimes there was no doubt in his mind that Haseo was seventeen but others… playing with Haseo, he always felt safe and reassured. Admittedly, sometimes The World could be a scary place. But never when a certain Adept Rogue was playing with him.

Logging into The World, Yuuichi once more became known to others as merely 'Silabus.' His room was gone, as was the real life he led, and all that remained was the digital playground of an MMORPG. Inspecting his surroundings, he saw a pair of players discussing the details of a trade both felt comfortable with making. Although Canard was no longer located in Δ Mac Anu, the brunette always took great care to be in that server as often as possible. All newbies were started in that town, not to mention the Words available to it never exceeded that of level fifty. There were times he had wished their Guild Rank had not been raised, if for that reason alone. _Yet another thing Haseo has done for us…_ he reminded himself with a chuckle. Kuhn had not remained the Guild Master long enough to manage much with the rank, and Silabus had never been particularly interested in that aspect of Canard. For him, the fun was always in helping others.

One step forward, followed by another, and then another and another until the green Blade Brandier was walking through the Town while surveying his surroundings. So far, most of the players he saw were ones that he already knew. Several members of the Medic Union waddled by in an quite a hurry, with one of them carrying several items. The brunette chuckled, recognizing this as restock time for the guild's shop. Sort of cute how hurried they were sometimes, not even having time to always insert the items into any of their character's personal inventory. Once before, a long time ago, he had offered to assist the Union with some extra hands. They politely declined, and it was not until later when he spoke with Kuhn about it that he understood why. Pretty simple actually: the Medic Union was afraid he would steal some of their hard-earned wares. Apparently that sort of scenario kept repeating itself back when the Union did accept help, so now their guild guidelines forbade it. Unfortunate, but true.

Stopping, the brunette realized something unusual. Kuhn started to drift away from Silabus and Gaspard shortly before he left the guild. Would… would Haseo do the same? After all he had done for the guild, and for its members? _No!_ He thought, and furiously shook his head to snap his mind away from those thoughts. "He… isn't like that. Not anymore, at least." The brunette assured himself, taking a deep breath and holding it for ten seconds. He then blew it out, all the while thinking, _breathe in the good and breathe out the bad._

"He who?" A male voice asked politely from behind. Silabus jolted, stumbling to the side as he tried to turn around. The end result was his character almost losing balance, one of the more realistic features of The World's physics kicking in. Almost, because whomever had spoken to him was kind enough to grab him by the arm to steady the brunette.

"Oh, thanks…" Silabus gave a sheepish grin, now finally able to face the other. His eyes widened in surprise, "Sakaki?"

"Yes, uhm… pardon me, but I don't quite recall your name… but I do recognize your character." Sakaki said, his character's face frowning slightly as his words gave way to an apologetic tone. "You fought with Haseo and Atoli at the Demon Palace Tournament. Excuse me for not remembering more than that," He continued, releasing his hold on the character once assured the brunette was not going to be toppling over unless some glitch took place. That happened every now and then. Glitches, anyway.

"Hahah, it's all right." Silabus assured him, grinning over at the other somewhat nervously. Considering how distinguished Sakaki had made himself, the Blade Brandier had trouble not feeling slightly intimidated by the other's presence. While Moon Tree's goal was not necessarily the same as Canard's, the two were very similar in the aspect that each were willing to help newbies. The major difference being that Canard revolved around helping a newbie in anyway they could, while Moon Tree was more concentrated on just creating peace (which often involved nabbing newbies and trying to discourage them from becoming PKers). Due to the passive similarities between the two, quite often a member would join Canard first and after becoming more familiar with the game ended up in Mood Tree. No matter how many times this happened though, the two guilds had never been particularly close. Silabus thought this to be funny, however, considering another similarity between the guilds… their names were Matsu and Haseo.

"Silabus, eh?" Sakaki inquired, after having run a quick check over the other's character stats with a mere flick of his wrist. The brunette nodded, shifting somewhere uneasily as the other continued to speak with him. What could one of the Seven Council possibly want to talk with him about…? "So, he who?" Sakaki repeated his initial question.

"Oh, right! Hahah, sorry. You surprised me so much at first, I completely forgot!" Silabus laughed, scratching the back of his head awkwardly which merely earned him an amused smile from the green-haired character. "Haseo." He explained, his hands falling back to his sides as he looked up at the other.

"I see." Sakaki's reply was short, and merely confused the brunette further. A minute or two lapsed, all the while Silabus quietly wondered what to do. Considering the other was still there, he likely wanted to talk more. But at the same time… he was saying nothing, so what to do? "Do you mean his PKKing tendencies?" The Edge Punisher inquired innocently, peering down at the other as he awaited his response.

"Uhm… something like that." Silabus murmured, taking a step back. Atoli looked up to Sakaki the same way a girl would look up to her big brother. Meanwhile, Haseo appeared to have a rather strong resentment towards the man… although, Silabus could never figure out why. Initially he figured it was the difference in their ideals, but then Haseo would have never gotten along with Atoli (however much he denies this fact) or even tolerated being Guild Master of Canard this long if that truly was the case.

"Or would it have to do with AIDA?" Sakaki pressed, catching Silabus by surprise. The Blade brandier immediately flushed, and averted his eyes in embarrassment. If Sakaki saw that, then surely Haseo would…! Inwardly he groaned, a sense of stupidity filling him from the inside out. He should have just sent Ill Literate an e-mail, especially considering the two had one another's member address.

"I-it might… but that wasn't necessarily what I was thinking about." The brunette murmured, his hazel eyes finding his shoes quite fascinating all of the sudden. Look at that, they were both green. Who would have thought? Silabus's character, wearing a pair of green shoes. Absolutely remarkable. Sakaki sent no message, and appeared to make no move to say anything in response. Instead, he stood there… almost expectantly. Realizing the other wanted him to go on, the brunette sighed. Well, under normal circumstances he would have spoken to Gaspard about this but… well, if he mentioned this to his best friend he knew the other would be upset that Haseo was also keeping this a secret from him. "I was just thinking Haseo wasn't the type to just leave his position as Guild Master. At least, he isn't as likely to now as he was when I first met him. He's really grown." Unsurprisingly, he found himself sounding proud of the other when speaking.

"Indeed he has. I remember a time when he would run amok and take down any PKers in sight. Now he only seems to do so if attacked first. Although, I wouldn't tell him that." Sakaki gave a slight wink. "He might get angry hearing such a comment come from a member of Moon Tree." At this, the brunette laughed.

"Honestly, it doesn't take much to make Haseo angry. Don't take it personally." Silabus informed the Edge Punisher. By the faintly amused smile lingering on the man's lips, the brunette had a feeling Sakaki never had. "So… you saw my message on the forums? How did you, uh… well… uhm, know it was connected with Haseo?" He asked, trying to bite down the urge to just blurt out his question.

"Indeed I did. As for how… how do you think I do?" Sakaki returned the question right back at the other, and crossed his arms as he patiently waited for the answer. "I would say the explanation is fairly obvious."

"…so you're apart of their role-play, too?" Silabus asked, feeling his heart sink. Even Sakaki? Now that was just unfair! Haseo did not even like the guy, let alone tolerate the Edge Punisher's presence for more than five minutes!

"Ah, no." Sakaki chuckled, one hand covering his mouth as that mere chuckle quickly turned into laughter. Once he quieted, he gave a broad and amused grin down at the other. "Atoli tells me all about it, you see. She's been very into their storyline, as of late." He explained, and patted the brunette fondly on the head. At the touch, Silabus inwardly frowned. That was something he had done quite often to Gaspard, but no one had ever made such a gesture towards him. Most people he spoke to were younger than him. How old was Sakaki, anyway? "Sorry to have mislead you."

"N-no, you didn't!" Silabus replied immediately, shaking his hands and head simultaneously. Once finished emphasizing his point, the brunette drooped considerably. "My own fault for assuming… sorry. But, uh… what do you know about their role-play?" _Stupid! Don't be so obvious about your curiosity! Like he's going to answer that now…_

"Plenty. Actually…" Sakaki trailed, and looked around. "If you like, I can tell you more about it later. Right now though, I have some things I need to attend to."

"Yes, of course!" Silabus nodded his head eagerly, face brightening immediately at the prospect of learning more. Perhaps posting was not such a bad idea… "And, I'm sorry for keeping you."

"No need. I spoke to you on my own terms." Sakaki reminded Silabus, and with a wave began his quick departure to a warp point. On the inside, Silabus was silently celebrating his victory. The day may not have started out too well, but by the minute there were improvements! He could not stop grinning. Finally, he would learn more about this 'Aida' thing! _But wait… what does it matter?_ He wondered, the joy quickly retreating. _He tells me about Aida. Then what? I can't talk to Haseo about it…_ with this realization, the novelty of his situation almost completely vanished. Ping! The brunette glanced up, and quickly checked his short mail to see who had just sent him one.

"Haseo…" Silabus whispered, eyes widening. _Oh Kami-sama, he saw the forums. I just __**know**__ it!_ He thought with growing dread and horror. "Well… I'll just have to… bite the bullet." He swallowed hard, and opened it. Instead,

_Hey Silabus, Gaspard. I have some free time. Would you two like to continue where we left off yesterday?_

The guilt became more pronounced, after reading that. Haseo had been trying really hard as of late to make time for his two main members of Canard… and there was Silabus, slinkering around in the background trying to find out just what exactly was going on with his friend's rather distant activities. What did it matter? He had to trust Haseo, and not be so… insecure. Besides, if Haseo left the guild that was his choice. Yet… why was all of this bothering him so much? Since when did his enjoyment of The World linger so much on whether Haseo played with him or not? Not having too many other choices, the brunette quickly began typing out his reply. _If nothing else, maybe I can convince Haseo to bring Bo along… given it isn't Saku's turn on the computer right now, anyway._

Finishing his message, Silabus sent the message and moved so that he stood there with his arms crossed. Actually, now that he thought about it Sakaki had not given him an exact time. There was no need to be worried about missing the Moon Tree member, yet there was a nagging feeling that made the brunette **not** want to help the other level up. Guilt. That was what. But… there was also a slight feeling of hurt. Haseo did not talk about himself very much, mostly because he was always so busy doing one thing or another. Yet, he would send Silabus those Greeting Cards with questions… and the two would exchange more questions, but only the brunette ever answered any of them. True, on one hand Silabus accepted this as Haseo's unusual way of expressing that he was the Blade Brandier's friend. Yet on the other… Atoli seemed to know so much more about Haseo. _Wait… am I… getting jealous?_ Ping!

_Is there something going on with you two and Bo? Gaspard asked the same thing. Anyway, the princess is online right now. So that will have to be a no._

Silabus could not stop himself - he burst out laughing, clutching his sides while players who walked by either gave him funny looks or just completely ignored this. Yet another victim claimed by the LOL-virus. Saku grated on Haseo's nerves about as badly as Sakaki did - the only difference was that because Saku was a kid, the Adept Rogue was more willing to tolerate her. From how it sounded yesterday though, and Haseo's reply… Silabus could only guess that the Adept Rogue did end up having to play level-up with Saku and Endrance at some point. _I bet that was a dream come true for him…_ Still chuckling, but regaining more of his composure, Silabus straightened himself and found that he actually had to wipe his eyes from the tears forming. With quick and nimble fingers, Silabus typed a rapid-fire reply and sent it. After that, how could he say no?

...

...

"A fan club, huh?" Haseo grunted out, knocking the final monster down with a blow from his broadsword. "Great." Sarcasm came in many forms - this particular one was the obvious.

"Yeah, they come to our shop to specifically buy your old weapons. Although, I think one bought the… I think they were Twin Daggers. Gaspard?" Silabus asked, and sheathed his own weapon when seeing the Battle Arena field disappear. The Shadow Warlock turned to look at him, and gave a big grin.

"Oh. Those girls. Yeah, definitely one of his old Twin Daggers." The pink Beast confirmed, and in a waddling hurry made his way over to the other two.

"Anyway, we're pretty sure she bought it because that was the weapon you used to save her from a PKer." Silabus concluded, and watched as Haseo tossed him an exasperated look while kicking open the chest. When the Adept Rogue made no comment on the item, the brunette could only assume the treasure was not even worth keeping. Or at least, he assumed as much until he received a Rainbow Scale via gift from the other. "H-Haseo…" He gasped, seeing the rarity rating and required level for it. While he was, put gently, a few levels too low to use it that did not stop him from ogling at the item in surprise for a minute until the other two walking. "Hey, wait!" He yelped, hurrying after. "Why don't-?"

"I already have one." Haseo waved Silabus' questions off with a few words and a slight hand gesture that sounded as unconcerned about it as he did. He wanted to ask why he did not hand it to Gaspard instead, but had a feeling he already knew the reason why. Gaspard just went with them to level to be with them, much like Silabus. Only, unlike the brunette Gaspard took more of the healing route when he traveled with the group. He also had a tendency to sell most of the items Haseo gave him in the shop, feeling other players would be more interested than he would. An item with a rarity of five, however, could not be sold.

"Oh… well, thanks. Thank you very much, Haseo…" Silabus smiled softly at the other's back, following his Guild Master along with Gaspard as the trio treaded along towards the Boss of the Field. His only response was a roll of the shoulders, which Silabus figured was a silent, "you're welcome." All through these proceedings, Gaspard was looking between his elders with slight curiosity. Falling back to get in step with his best friend, the Shadow Warlock looked up to the brunette.

"What exactly did he give you?" Gaspard whispered curiously.

"A really cool accessory. Why? Jealous?" Silabus laughed, poking the other's doggish nose with a grin. At the tease, Gaspard gave a low whine and moved to the side with his arms were crossed. "Oh come on Gaspard, don't give me the silent treatment! We already have our strong, silent hero with us." The temptation was so powerful, he was unable to stop himself. At that Haseo gave a snort of disapproval, and the sound was soon followed by a more verbal scowl.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Gaspard agreed with a snicker, and hurried more so he could walk in stride with his Guild Master. "Although, I always thought heroes smiled a bit more. C'mon Haseo, smile!" He cheered, and gently pulled on the other's arm. "Be happy!"

"Maybe he's more of an anti-hero? The guy that saves the day, that no one expected?" Silabus added, and hurried up so he was on the other side of Haseo and pulling his other hand. "Because if he is, I think he has that frown down pat!"

"No no, he has to be a REAL hero! Smile, reeaaal big Haseo! C'mon! Flash us a grin even Doraemon would be envious of!" Gaspard pressed, yanking harder on the Adept Rogue who found himself almost falling from the yank.

"Let go of me!" Haseo growled, and attempted to free himself without suffering any consequences - such as mending hurt feelings and the like. The whole comfort-another-human-being had never been a strong point of his, as apparently yelling at them further merely made matters worse and not better. How was he supposed to know that?

"See? Anti-hero!" Silabus laughed, still holding onto the hand even as Haseo attempted to free himself without knocking anyone down. Considering how many more levels he was higher than the other two, the brunette was surprised Haseo was restraining himself enough to avoid doing just that. "He's still frowning Gaspard!"

"Oh yeah? Well, anti-hero's don't do nice things! He just did something nice!" Gaspard cheered, and was practically jumping onto Haseo's arm entirely, the Adept Rogue using all of his character's strength to not topple on top of the Shadow Warlock.

"THAT WASN'T NICE! I was just…!" Haseo gritted his teeth as his brows knitted, and his character began to develop a twitching vein. Due to the MD2's technology, such as reading brainwaves, quite often when someone felt an emotion strong enough the headgear would automatically transmit it onto the player's character. Like now, for example. Haseo was annoyed, and so the exaggerated symbol used in anime and manga found its way onto his head despite the fact he had not hit any shortcuts to signify that was how he felt.

"See? Anti-hero!" Silabus chirped up happily, and with a grin started to pull Haseo and the now latched-on Gaspard into a circle. "A real hero would be modest and admit it!" He laughed, pulling the other two with him into a twirl of sorts. "Just give it up Gaspard!"

"WE'RE ALMOST AT THE BOSS!" Haseo yelled, now holding back onto Silabus as he knew what would happen if the other let go - he would go flying and probably land onto Gaspard, who would then cry. A distant sense of fear found its way into his spine - why in The World did he want to hang out with these two idiots again? "He'll see us…!" Perhaps if he threatened the two with danger, their instinctual fear of battling a creature several levels too high for them would kick in and settle the two down? Also, since when was he even any TYPE of hero, anti or not?

"He is being modest though! Isn't that right Haseo?" Gaspard grinned, looking up at the person he was attached to. Or at least, he did until all of the spinning made him dizzy and he looked down while holding his mouth with one hand. "Ugh…"

"DON'T YOU DARE GET SICK ON ME!" Haseo screamed, and yanked Silabus as roughly as he could so that the trio would stop spinning. In his haste to avoid making Gaspard sick though, the pull was enough to pull Silabus forwards - as in, right into the Adept Rogue and the three fell into a crumpled heap on the ground. "Oww…"

"Owwww…!" Gaspard whined, lying on his stomach with Haseo's back stabbing into the Shadow Warlock's spine. Which, were Haseo not in his Third Form, would not nearly have been as much of a painful looking scenario. Of the three though, Silabus by far probably had the most comfortable landing as unlike Haseo he was not sandwiched between two people and… Gaspard's predicament was pretty obvious as to why he was uncomfortable. The brunette found himself sprawled out on top of Haseo, hands flat on the Adept Rogue's chest from when he had tried to catch himself during the fall. Haseo had his own hands on the Blade Brandier's waist, being the good friend he was and trying to catch the other. A lot of good that ultimately did him though.

"…I'm dizzy…" Silabus complained, and froze as he realized the strange pile the three made - in particular, the portion that consisted of himself and Haseo. Flushing, he immediately moved to jump off the other but Haseo had not let go of him yet, and instead and found himself semi-falling back down.

"Oww! Could you two please get off me?" Gaspard wailed, feeling the impact of Silabus's mistake the most.

"Just… just give us a second!" Haseo managed to get out through gritted teeth, looking away as he managed to push the brunette off (who released an alarm yelp having just been thrown) before following after to stand. Taking several swift, and surprisingly long strides, Haseo moved himself as far away from the other two as he possibly could. All the while, he was hiding a furious blush the best he could away from his friends. _Idiots…_

"Here you go!" Silabus said, helping Gaspard return to a standing position. While being a round, pink ball of cuddly goodness, there were times that even the Shadow Warlock found he hated the way he had designed his character. "There. So…" Straightening his character's outfit, which proved to be rather useless considering the graphics had not reached the point of their clothing being altered much by their surroundings. "You mentioned something about the boss being around here?" He finished casually, his cheeks still a faint pink but for the most part he was over the Close Encounter. Somehow, the brunette had a feeling that was the closest to the Adept Rogue's face anyone had ever been… and not get PKed for the intrusion of personal space. The knowledge made him feel… kind of giddy.

"Yeah, it's right-" Haseo started, but stopped abruptly as the distinctive ping of him receiving a short mail sounded. The Adept Rogue frowned, the sudden interruption enough to send his own hidden blush into a retreat. "…I have to go after the Boss." He explained, an agitated tone now following his words. When he said no more on the subject, Silabus and Gaspard merely exchanged looks. "Come on." His speech lowering to mere grumbles, the two did not hesitate in following after. After a few months of leveling with the guy, anyone knew that when he got into one of those 'moods' joking around would be the worst idea imaginable.

...

...

_Re: Looking to start a "World" Role-Play!__ -Silabus_

_Hey again Literate! I see you're adjusting to "The World" just fine! You are already hitting the forums. I was curious… the name of the RP would not be called Aito or something like that would it?_

_Aito?__ -Ill Literate_

_Silabus! Did you receive my Gift all right? Thanks again for the help! My brother is suuuuuch a jerk! Are you thinking about joining? Aito? Huh? Never heard of it. No ours is, "Candy Store!" _

……………..

* * *

**Disclaimer: **I have no affiliation with Bandai-Namco, nor with the .hack games other than I purchase those nifty little PS2 discs in order to play the games so that the creators then get paid. That way, everyone is happy. They have money, and I have something to fangirl over. They own the rights, while I just play the games. They write an extension of the story, that is part of the .hack world. I write fanfiction, and have no idea where it is going. See? That is why they own it, and I do not and never will. I also do not own the song the title was taken from, nor have any affiliation with the artists (Duran Duran, if memory serves me right) who have sung it.

**A/N: **_Drumroll_ A super special awesome thanks to...! Green Tempest and LittleMissUKE. ALSO! No. That is not a unusually placed typo near the end. Just to reassure you all, because I know everyone here would totally jump at the chance to provide constructive criticism (haha, who am I kidding? I never leave const. criticism. I just sit there and fangirl like a maniac. GO ME! _Whips out pom-poms and does a celebratory dance_) Also, some of you may be wondering about the mass title changes that took place. I settled on 'Ordinary World' because the song's lyrics sort of reminded me of this fanfiction... not the mention the double-pun, nerher.


	3. Where Is My Friend,

** To**: Silabus  
** From**: Sakaki  
**Subject**: Aida

_I do apologize for last night, Silabus. Something further had arisen last night, and as one of the Seven Council I had to attend to it immediately. One of those occasions that no one saw coming, and it is just unfortunate that I had to drop the plans we had made yesterday in order for me to take care of it. I sincerely hope you are not angry with me, and willing to meet me in Θ Hidden Forbidden Battlefield. Would around eight in the evening be agreeable to you, Silabus? Please send me a short mail, as I will be carrying out my duties in The World and thus unavailable for checking my inbox. _

_Thank you,_

_ Sakaki_

* * *

"This is so troublesome, at times…" Chika murmured with some slight distaste. Her M2D sat by her, quiet and off for the time being. She had finished her schoolwork for the evening, and since she only had maybe a ten minute wait until dinner was ready she saw no point in logging onto The World just yet. Instead, she went about doing a favor for one of her online friends… Silabus. When the two first met, each were just the average online player. Until Alkaid, or rather Chika's character, made a Salvadore Aihara reference. Suddenly, the two became a pair of friends who had known each other since before The World. To and fro the pair would exchange their favourite quotes of Salvadore's, and on occasion Alkaid would even get adventurous and pretend to be him only to harass Silabus a little. If anyone else tried this though, that person suddenly found his or herself answering to a very angry redhead.

Essentially, as she learned more about and became better friends with Silabus it became apparent to her that her older friend was more caught up with technology than with Salvadore Aihara's episodes. The first hint was that a lot of the jokes he would quote were outdated in comparison with his newer work. Finding this to offend her, she made one of her personal goals to gather all of the new episodes and to send an e-mail to Silabus containing all the links to newer content. Every few months when she had some spare time she would go take care of such a boring, mind-numbing task… although, at the same time this did make for an excellent excuse to re-watch various episodes. Due to their history, she knew that Silabus always checked his e-mail and the forums before he continued into The World, lest he missed some important update about the MMORPG. With a slight grin and roll of her eyes, she shook her head at the other.

Once all of them were collected, she verified that the correct Send To address was there. Nodding in approval, she clicked on the 'send' button followed by leaning back in her chair as she gazed up at her ceiling. _Come to think of it…_ she started, eyes locked onto the popcorn ceiling above her. _Silabus has been really into The World lately._ She wondered if it had anything to do with his teammates from the Demon Palace Arena. A smirk found its way onto her face, as she recalled those teammates and her experience in fighting with the two in the Holy Palace Tournament. Haseo. He was quite possibly one of the most fun assholes she had ever had the pleasure of encountering. Arguing with him was almost as entertaining as fighting with Sirius, the only difference being that with Haseo it could sometimes escalate into something less than savory. Then again, pissing him off was a strange sort of fun all its own. _I should do it more often_, she concluded with a nod. As for the other teammate… her eyes suddenly gained an entirely new sort of stare as she gazed at her ceiling still.

Atoli was far more entertaining to tease than Silabus was. Watching the blonde get so easily riled up was rapidly becoming one of Chika's favourite pastimes. All she had to do was imply this, or even that… and suddenly there was Atoli, flushing in embarrassment and flailing about as she got the wrong idea. Especially if Haseo was concerned. "…it's always about him, isn't it?" Alkaid breathed out a heavy, agitated sigh. If something was wrong with Silabus or Atoli, chances were that Haseo somehow had something to do with it. Were these two anyone but who they were, Chika would not have really cared. Yet, one was one of her closest online male friends, and the other was… her cheeks turned a faint shade of pink, and Chika jerked her eyes away from the ceiling. The other was a special, unidentified case of emotions bottled up. _Like Pandora's Box… only, I'm afraid to open it. I learned from another's mistakes - who knows what I'll release if I examine this too much? _

"Chika!" Her mother hollered from the kitchen, and the sixteen-year old quickly slid out of her thoughts and immediately into her daughter mode. For the time being, she was Chika and not Alkaid. For the time being, she was to be what was expected of the average sixteen-year old. Right then, considering where she had left off in her trail… she was grateful to suddenly be in such an ordinary world.

...

...

"After we take care of the AIDA signal coming from this area, we need to report back to the Serpent of Lore." Pi informed Haseo in her usual, straight-forward and abrupt tone. The woman's attitude clearly stated she was on edge already, likely after having a bad day after work or she had not eaten dinner yet. The Adept Rogue had noticed at least that much after working with her (unwillingly) for so long. If she was hungry, she got irritable - and since she was such a workaholic, she would not eat until after G.U. business was taken care of. As the two walked through the stone walls of the dungeon, Haseo blew out a heavy and annoyed sigh. Yet **another** day after school he had to spend dealing with AIDA, wielding Skeith next to Pi's Tarvos.

Kuhn's refusal to abide by Yata's orders was getting real old, real quick. Pi's dedication to Yata led to Kuhn avoiding asking her for assistance when dealing with AIDA, and Pi would never go to Kuhn and ask **him** for help. Yata would not speak to Kuhn until the Steam Gunner was ready to re-discuss just what was to happen and why in G.U. The end result was Haseo finding himself getting two different calls, for two different areas, from two different people with two very different opinions on how to go about the computerized pandemic. Old habits wanted to resurface in the form of 'The Terror of Death,' but he knew better than to give in to such petty, short-term answers. Somehow, Kuhn needed to accept that Yata was their only source of information. Get over it, put simply. _Then again…_ he frowned, recalling that conversation. Turning off the system would prevent anyone else from becoming a Lost One. At the same time though… what of those who already were? What would he do about Shino…?

"Haseo?" Pi snapped, her yellow eyes narrowing over in the Adept Rogue's direction. "Are you even paying attention?" She demanded, stopping abruptly and placing her hands on her hips. Yanking himself out of those thoughts, Haseo turned to give her his attention once more. All the while, he curiously pondered if she had been talking to him. If so, he never realized how much he excelled at tuning people out until just then. "You've been leading us in circles." Pi pointed out, and motioned in the direction of where the Dungeon Map would be. Risking a glance at it, Haseo quickly realized that take them in circles he had indeed been doing. Shadows lurked in the unexplored hallways, meanwhile the yellow brick road colour of the taken paths were in a clear square-shape… a route that had taken continuously.

"…tch." Not wanting to admit that no, he was in fact not paying attention Haseo instead turned to rolling his eyes at her and moving to lead the two down the shadowy sections. As the two traversed along the way, a nagging question started to tug at the back of his head. A distant, curiosity that he suddenly wanted to satiate the longer he had to travel with the old hag. "…why didn't you ask Endrance, or Saku?" He inquired suddenly, and glanced back briefly at her from the corner of his eye. Pi continued to walk purposefully behind him, and briefly made eye contact with him. When red met yellow, there was a second-long tension. Both had curiosities on their mind, and neither wished to share. Suddenly, Haseo had a feeling Pi was in a foul mood for more reasons than those associated with food.

"Because Saku would only do so with Endrance's assistance. Taking down such a small, secluded AIDA signal is the job needed of only two Epitaph Users." Pi explained in her abrupt tone, and adjusted her glasses while sending a glare over at Haseo as though daring him to question the validity of her statement. "Which, actually, reminds me…" She trailed, and increased her character's speed so that she was walking astride with him. "Master Yata would like you to speak with Endrance about working with Saku and Bo to help us take care of the AIDA signals. Thr-… two groups dealing with AIDA is better than just one." Noticing the slip-up, Haseo quirked a brow at her but from the suddenly hardened and almost angry expression on her face he dared to not pursue that just yet.

"And 'Master' Yata," Haseo's sarcasm on what he felt was the self-imposed title the man gave himself was not lost on Pi, who further expressed her disapproval with a glare that intensified into a glower, "is not asking me in person, because…? I was at the Serpent of Lore not that long ago. He has my Member Address, he could have even e-mailed that."

"Master Yata did not reach this conclusion until after he verified the safety of allowing players as young as Saku and Bo to be dealing with AIDA. With Endrance keeping an eye on whichever on would be playing at the time, that would also lessen the risk of the two being infected once more." Pi explained, and made sure to put extra emphasis on Yata's title. _Little brat's being rude again…_ she noted, and gave a derisive snort at him.

"Developing allergies to your cat?" Haseo inquired with a slight smirk, not about to be put off so easily by mere sounds. Especially ones that tended to come from the nasal passage. Seeing Pi bristle, he immediately changed gears. "At least he is taking Saku and Bo's age into consideration." He consented, and inwardly rolled his eyes as he watched Pi's character immediately relax. Talk about easily appeased. "…I'll think about it. Yata might feel safe with it, but I sure don't. They're already too young to be this involved…"

"Are you worried?" Pi chuckled, before she stopped a merely amused smile appeared on her character's face. "Speaking of my cat… my little gentleman is rather hungry. I'll be back in a few minutes - can't keep my prince waiting for too long. And I mean my cat, not you."

...

...

Digital brown eyes gazed down at the glowing red mark on equally as digital concrete beneath his green shoes. Because, after all, it was amazing that his character Silabus was wearing a pair of shoes. That were actually brown, which was precisely why the fact they were **green** the other day was so alarming. With a careful precision, or as precise as someone controlling a character could be, Silabus traced his steps along the three marks seemingly etched into the ground. _No… more like it was burned,_ he realized as the mahogany shades brightened into a fiery red, only to fade once more to the dim hues. The peculiar night of this area was almost bewitching, with the graphics found there far more breath-taking than any of the others. There was this sense of an impending danger, a challenge not likely to be overcome. Perhaps this feeling was brought forth by the storm constantly brewing in the area's distance, the occasional lightning lighting up the massive device in the distance.

The way the weather patterns appeared, it was as though he were caught in the eye of a massive monsoon. The way the blue-gray clouds swirled around so far off, with little to no sight of the actual sky… the darker, black clouds with a deep blue lining whirled in a constant slow-motion in the opposing direction. The effect was both dizzying and mesmerizing, and Silabus found himself alternating between inspecting the unusually pulsing graphic and the weather conditions. Although the whole area should have been plunged in darkness save for the occasional lightning strikes, he found that the lighting was acceptable. He knew where to send his character without having to wander around the area aimlessly trying to find his way back to a warp point. The ruins around the grounds were worn and tired, yet added to the strange mysticism of the place. _I almost feel… like there's a ritual waiting to happen._ At such a thought, he chuckled softly to himself.

"Wonder where Sakaki is…" The brunette inquired out loud, and took a swift glance at the clock hiding in the corner of his options. _20:12_. With a frown, Silabus was beginning to find himself worrying about Sakaki. Had the Edge Punisher run into some unexpected trouble…? Maybe he had run into Haseo, and he told the Adept Rogue everything…? "Ugh, this is stupid." Silabus sighed, admitting the facts out loud and to himself. There were two parts of him, each pulling the brunette in a different direction with two very different paths and ends. On one hand, he had to know more about Aida. To know more about what held so much of Haseo's attention, and what had the seventeen-year old so wrapped up inside. What had become so important, that Canard was only an afterthought… a job he had to take care, and not a place to spend with friends. The brunette's shoulders slumped.

On the other hand, that was all of Haseo's business. If he did not wish to speak with the brunette about it, naturally he would not. There was no making Haseo do anything he did not care to do. Simple as that. A slight breeze wafted up, and the sign glowed brighter. "…it looks kind of like… a triangle…" Silabus murmured, shifting his thoughts away from the more unsettling ones. Squatting down, he traced one gloved finger along the indentures. "Well, actually… more like a blade…" He admitted sheepishly, and watched in silent curiosity as the soft glow from the mark cast a reddish tint onto the greens of his character's outfit.

"The World's graphics really are amazing, aren't they?" Sakaki asked, and for the second time since they spoke Silabus jolted - only this time, he actually fell backwards and had to look up to see the amused expression on the Edge Punisher's visage.

"W-well… yeah." Silabus stammered, and quickly adjusted his character into a more upright position. "It's a very beautiful game." He admitted, as he slowly rose back into a standing position over the strange sign. _The blade-shaped sign_, he corrected himself. At that thought, there was suddenly a nagging feeling pulling the back of his head and it had nothing to do with Gaspard playfully pulling on his character's ponytail.

"Indeed it is. Well then, you wished me to tell you about Atoli and Haseo's role-play, correct?" Sakaki inquired, gazing down at the brunette with an intense gaze. He was likely wanting to make sure that Silabus had not changed his mind in the past hour, and considering the awkward shuffling of the Blade Brandier's feet he had every reason to want to verify. "You are still interested in knowing… are you not?

"Y-yes… well…" Silabus looked off to the side awkwardly, biting his lower lip as he considered his options. The upsides, and the downsides. Was this really all right? He was invading Haseo's privacy… but at the same time, he knew nothing about Haseo! There would be no real major repercussions if he tried to find out… just this once, right? After all, it was only natural to be curious… right? With how much his heart was pounding, the brunette was wondering if just how nervous he was doing this was any indication as to how good or bad of an idea this would turn out to be. "Yes. I'm still… curious." He confirmed for the other finally. The answer seemed to please Sakaki, as his critical eye quickly melted away into an approving smile. _I can understand why though… he has other things to attend to, and probably had to make time to meet me here. That's probably why he was so late, too…_

"Excellent! I should probably start simply though. Make it easier for you." Sakaki began, and while he was smiling he also seemed to be… possibly observing? _Nah,_ the brunette brushed the thought off. "The role-play is called 'G.U,' although Atoli has refrained from telling me what exactly it stands for. The members in it are Haseo, Atoli, Yata, Pi, Kuhn," Hearing that name, Silabus's eyebrows rose in surprise, "and recently Sakubo and Endrance have been invited to join as well. I do believe they accepted."

"…Kuhn…?" Silabus trailed, his brows slowly sinking down into a thoughtful position.

"Yes. Yata started the storyline, and I suppose you could call him the 'Dungeon Master' of it all. He guides the members along, leading them to the next plot point. Kuhn and Pi were the first to join, and have been very selective about the types of people they are willing to include or indulge information about." Here, Sakaki's face quickly turned into alarm, "Although, I don't exactly know what the conditions to join are…" He continued, rushing to try and mend any feelings he may have hurt with his wording.

"No, it's fine! I understand, so far." Silabus assured him, and even offered a smile to verify the truth of his words. "Besides, I don't think I would join even if they offered. I'm usually too busy to make time for anything new." He laughed, and quickly urged the other to continue.

"That's good. The storyline is rather complicated, but essentially they play as these… 'avatars' that battle with unknown entities. Yata leads them down a path of mystery and intrigue, never letting them know enough. The unknown entities are known as 'Aida,' and none of them know if this entity truly means them harm… all they know, is that ultimately it comes down to them, or the entity." Sakaki explained, smiling in a mysterious fashion all the while. Perhaps it was the lighting?

"…" Silabus crossed his arms, quietly thinking to himself about what the other said. Well, when he overhead Atoli whispering to Haseo, she did mention something about Aida appearing. She mentioned that they speak to 'Master Yata,' which made sense if he was a Dungeon Master of sorts. The man who wielded both the power, and the story with mere words. Were his friends slowly becoming so enthralled with this storyline that the role-play itself became more fun than The World? To a certain extent, he could understand that. In high school, one of his female friends had attempted to get him to join her group role-play. When he had tried though, he found himself more interested in reading the events than participating. Then again, he was also a bit shyer then as well. He was more comfortable observing these imaginary people interact, than to make one on his own and risk criticism. Silabus had witnessed the criticism - others calling the character a Mary-Sue or Gary-Stu, and berating the creator for lacking creativity. The brunette had no desire to be one of those ridiculed.

"They've all become a rather tight-knit group." Sakaki informed the other offhand. "I know it is hard to see when you only watch one or two of them, is why I bring it up." He continued, and Silabus looked up to show he was listening again. "In particular, Atoli and Haseo seem to be constantly getting closer. Although, I think you probably have seen as much for yourself."

"Ah… w-well, of course." Silabus stammered, suddenly finding himself embarrassed even having the subject brought up. "But, uh… why do you mention it?" He inquired, shifting awkwardly from one foot to the next. He suddenly felt antsy, as though he had to get up do something - anything! The brunette suddenly burned for a good jog… or perhaps a run. Not since high school was he required to run, and from the blue he just wanted to race for all he was worth. To give that feeling inside, that antsy and impatient yet still fearful impulse a reason to be there. The thought of Haseo and Atoli being together gave him that sensation, and next to wanting to run there was another feeling… one akin to that guilty weight inside of him, but more saddening. One he could not name, merely feel.

"So that you understand it is from all the time in the role-play they spend together, of course." Sakaki went on, taking on an expression of mild surprise that the other could not figure it out on his own. "His avatar and hers… are always growing closer in their own little World. Their world of aida, avatars, and the G.U. She is slowly becoming the Mask that covers Death's face." The brunette did not quite understand what the Edge Punisher was saying necessarily, but he did gather the implication.

"I-I see…" Silabus stammered, his face flushing further as his fists unconsciously clenched together. Sakaki raised a brow seeing the subtle gesture, and a smirk may have flickered on his face… or may not have. The brunette had no idea, already gathered in his own thoughts about what he was hearing.

"At any rate, I see to have run low on time. I must be going." Sakaki announced, and started to walk towards the nearest warp gate.

"W-wait… uhm… Sakaki…" Silabus started, and breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw the other stop to listen. "If I, uhm… have anymore questions, would you mind answering them for me?" He asked, partially hesitantly… and partially hopefully.

"…of course, Silabus." And with a smile, Sakaki left.

...

...

_Say, Atoli. Would you like to go leveling up with me? We can invite a third person if you like, it's just that leveling goes a lot easier if there's someone there to heal you… and I know how much you like to impress Haseo! So, what do you say?_

The Harvest Cleric stared at her short mail from Alkaid, and frowned slightly while placing her hands on her hips. _Now what is she up to, I wonder…?_ Sighing, the blonde looked around. "Someone… to join us…" Alkaid suddenly asking her to level up was far too suspicious - the redhead had to have been up to something. Something devious! "Oh! …Kuhn." She decided, and with a smile quickly typed up a short mail to send off to him. Well, he did like to play the knight in shining armor running to a lady's rescue. This counted as a rescue of sorts, right?

* * *

**A/N: **First, I would like to have a moment of silence for one of my greatest supports... which is no longer with me. My dearest hippie belt, you shall be sincerely missed. You were always there to ensure my pants did not fall down. But now...! Anyway, onto a more serious note! Because .hack//G.U. is pretty character-oriented (at least, that's how it looks to me), the others are going to slowly hop in. Naturally, Silabus' quest to learn more about "Aida" will still be the main plot (and uh, whatever Sakaki is up to. Seriously dudes, I don't even know what he be plottin' and shiz. If you know, tell me. No, in fact. Go tell Haseo. I'm sure he would be WAY more appreciative than I would. In his own violent, pretending-to-not-appreciate kind of way). But, of course... that will get old. So the next few chapters are probably going to be moreso aimed at fun and development with characters than with the actual plot. Just had to get Sakaki-poo out of the way.  
**Disclaimer:** I do not own nor have any affiliation whatsoever with Bandi Namco, the hack series, or even the character designers/developers. All I do is pay to play their games, and fangirl over their creations like the mindless college student I be. Ohyes. (Not to be confused with Oh! Great, who is the awesome creator of the AirGear series which I also do not own, but still enjoy).


	4. When I Need You The Most?

"…and can you believe it? She says no!" Kuhn exclaimed, firing one more shot at the Long-Lived Lizard they had been attacking. Better these than their higher-level incarnations though - the Long-Lived-Lords were a pain to take down, what with how the monsters would constantly heal themselves. "Must have been a long day at the sandwich shop." He finally ended with a shrug, as the screen displayed the group's gained EXP from the battle. While not much, the bonus from managing two separate Hangeki's definitely made the fight worth the trouble. But only by a little.

"Kuhn, you can't expect every single girl who lays eyes on you to suddenly fall head over heels and call you 'Kuhnie.'" Alkaid sighed, but her exasperation quickly turned to amusement when seeing the blue-haired character cringe at the nickname. "What's that Kuhnie? You only like your fangirls to refer to you in such an adoring fashion?" She teased, and only stopped when receiving a Oi Repth from Atoli. She gave the blonde a brief, appreciative grin before resuming the release of her ways upon the unsuspecting, and most unknowingly dubbed, 'Knight' that Atoli had dragged along. The blonde would have invited Haseo to join along, but last she heard was that he and Pi had some business to attend to. _Why does Haseo __**always**__ have some business with this girl or that?_ She wondered, and puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. As far as she knew, next to Shino she was one of Haseo's first female friends! Pi was a co-worker of sorts. Why did he run around to spend time with this girl or that, when Atoli was always right there and ready to help him whenever he needed it?

"W-well… it's just that… hearing… you say it… sounds really weird…" Kuhn mumbled, his voice progressively getting quieter and quieter. "Not to mention a little creepy… like you're about to PK me…"

"WHAT'S THAT?!" Alkaid yelled, her fists clenched as the 'Angry Mark' appeared on her character's head in the usual fashion of an imaginary popping vein. Only in The World, anime, and manga did such ridiculous and exaggerated forms of expressing oneself exist. "ARE YOU CALLING ME CREEPY?!"

"N-not at all Alkaid!" Kuhn smiled awkwardly, and held up both hands in surrender while he also attempted to subtly back away. "R-right Atoli?" He asked hopefully, peering over at the blonde to save HIM this time. Atoli snapped from her thoughts, and looked blankly over at Kuhn.

"Right what?" The Harvest Cleric inquired innocently, having not heard a single ounce of the Steam Gunner and Twin Blade's conversation. At this, the redhead smirked at Kuhn and placed her hands on her hips.

"See? Even Atoli agrees! You're calling me creepy!" Alkaid further accused, but seemed more pleased that the blonde agreed with her than the actual victory over Kuhn. The lone male's character now sweating, he took a few more subtle steps away from the questionably angry member in their team. _She's like a female Haseo… _he thought with a nervous chuckle. _Haseo PMSing… that's something I'd __**never**__ want to see… thank Kami-sama he's a man._ "Are you going to apologize anytime soon, Kuhnie?"

"I-I'm sorry!" Kuhn promised her, and nodded his head in hopes to assuring her just that much more. "A-at the next treasure chest, you can have the item! Think of it as me expressing the sincerity of my words." He continued to offer. Now he could see why Atoli was a little paranoid of joining Alkaid alone on an adventure. That, or this was Pi's way to getting back at him for just leaving G.U. like that. Tell the 'little lady' to run to Kuhn if she is ever facing danger, and Haseo is not available. Oh, she was a sneaky woman! But perhaps that was what was so fascinating about her…

"World to Kuhn, monsters?" Alkaid informed him, and with a heavy sigh he rolled his eyes. So now his female party members were working together against him? Attracting the attention of monsters, only to drag them towards him? That was just wrong.

"Right, right. I have it covered." Kuhn tossed her a dazzling grin (which she rolled her eyes at), and whipped out his bayonet. "Kuhnie has everything under control!" Hey… if he couldn't beat them, he might as well join them. The reptilian monsters mooed in a feral fashion at them (no one knew why exactly so many monsters 'mooed.' It was perhaps the least frightening sound a potentially murderous creature could make, not to mention it took 'mad cow disease' to a whole new meaning), and whipped their bodies around to knock Kuhn and Atoli down simultaneously.

"Kuhnie has what under control again?" Alkaid grinned, and swiped at the Long-Lived Lizard ready to stamp down where Atoli had initially been trying to get back up from. Kuhn was not so luckily saved by the redhead, and scowled when he took some damage. Damage that he happily returned when bolting back up while firing his gun. He loved that trigger button, no pun intended. "You okay Atoli? Doing all right with hit points?"

"I'm just fine, thank you." Atoli answered the other politely, and resisted the urge to sulk. Sure, **now** they were paying attention to her. _She's just as bad as Haseo!_ Instead of expressing her silent annoyance at this, the blonde moved from where the battle was at its most intense in order to cast Oi Repth on both Kuhn and Alkaid.

"You heard me the first time!" Kuhn reminded the redhead with a smirk, and blasted the final shot at the monster.

"Kuhnie, you ass-wipe! I had a Hangeki!" Alkaid yelled at him, and with a growl hurried over to begin pummeling the other Long-Lived Lizard who, had he anything more than 1's and 0's making up his brain, would have been thankful he had no way of feeling any semblance of pain.

"…okay, so not EVERYTHING is under-control." Kuhn replied smoothly, and moved to stand protectively by Atoli while he fired further at the creature. "You know, personally I don't think she needs us here to help her level-up." The blunette whispered softly to the blonde who found herself trying to suppress a chuckle at that. "After all, you gain more experience if you solo." He added, and suddenly Atoli did not have to force herself to not chuckle - the amusement suddenly left her. _Is that why Haseo goes off by himself so much…? To level-up faster?_ She knew how… well, hardcore he was about that sort of thing. If so, that made more sense. Yet, lately whenever he wanted to 'level-up' he would invite their non-G.U. friends along for the adventure, and even go as far to invite others so everyone could be together. What brought about such a sudden switch in leveling tactics?

"Atoli?" It was Alkaid. The blonde blinked her character's eyes rapidly, before looking around herself curiously in hopes of seeing the swirling blue mass known as the Battle Area barrier. Realizing it was gone, the Harvest Cleric flushed before taking a few steps back.

"I-I'm sorry… I must have spaced out…" Atoli apologized, and immediately went about utilizing her Oi Repth ability before putting away her staff.

"It's fine. I was just making sure your character wasn't paralyzed, or something." Alkaid assured the blonde, and even offered a smile to go with her words. _She looks a lot friendlier when she smiles…_ the blonde noted.

"How? I was right there by her, protecting her from any harm!" Kuhn asked, but judging from his tone he was merely playing around. The redhead waved him off as though he were an annoying bug that would not leave her alone.

"Yeah yeah, if Atoli wasn't here to protect your sorry butt with her healing magic, I would hate to see where you would be by now." Alkaid waved him off further, and slowly the Steam Gunner began to wonder if she was developing some sort of cramp in her hand from all those hours of playing. That, or a gamer's worst nightmare - carpal tunnel syndrome. He shuddered at the thought. Luckily, the syndrome was not contagious.

"…th-thank you, Alkaid." Atoli spoke up suddenly, earning the eyes of both the redhead and Kuhn on her. Awkwardly, the blonde took a step back now having their attention. "For, uhm… checking on me." She explained, and offered an appreciative smile. Having their answer, Alkaid and 'Kuhnie' resumed their peculiar versions of playful banter. _And for making me feel useful…Alkaid…_

_-------_

The alarm went off in a loud, angry blare that almost instinctively Ryou motioned his hand to hit the 'mute' button on his computer. The angry blare continued, as unlike The World he actually had to roll out of bed to turn off the blasted instrument of his growing consciousness rather than press a shortcut. Growling he slammed a hand down on the alarm, immediately silencing the unfortunate clock. All it did was its job, and this was the thanks it got… Shifting underneath the covers, the player behind Haseo quickly found that his mind was already functioning far too much for him to get any further rest. One last growl of protest, he finally caved before swinging his feet over. "So much for seven hours of uninterrupted sleep…" He grumbled, rubbing his eyes to remove the crust that had gathered there overnight. With a yawn and a stretch, he realized there was no further putting off what he had to do. What he had to do, everyday… since that day.

Once he finished changing into his school uniform and eating breakfast, he scribbled a hasty note to his parents to be left on the kitchen table. The seventeen-year old switched his cell phone on, before pocketing it. Before leaving the house, he grabbed his schoolbag before hurrying out. Out to see her. To see Shino. She started everything, and more than anything Ryou hoped everything would end with her conscious and happy once more. No more Lost Ones, and no more AIDA. On his walks to the hospital she was located in, there were some days where he would fancy what The World would be like without having to worry about such dark subjects any longer. When Shino woke up again, would she be proud of him? Or disappointed in him? Even Ryou had to admit that since joining G.U. he had changed - would she approve of how he had?

Between school, his part-time job, G.U., and just plain trying to keep up with the friends he had made on The World the teenager noticed the decreasing amount of time he had as of late. Twenty-four hours was simply not enough to work, visit Shino, battle AIDA, attend school, sleep, complete schoolwork, prepare for exit exams for school, and then more entrance exams… he sighed, and massaged his head in annoyance. _Maybe Saku is right… maybe I should ask Silabus for help in literature…_ he thought. And then stopped, taking that into actual consideration. On one hand, it would help with some of his grades. That would also allow him to spend time with the Blade Brandier, who seemed most prone to missing the Adept Rogue's presence. The thought made him blush slightly, and when realizing he was getting stares from the early morning wanderers he gave a scowl before hurrying along his way once more.

Silabus **did** seem genuinely happy to help anyone who needed it… but how to ask the Blade Brandier without actually asking? That was the other hand - the downside. He had to **ask**, heaven forbid. Perhaps he could bring up the fact that Gaspard had tests coming up soon… find out if the youngest Canard member was cramming for the tests or not. Perhaps see if Silabus offered to help Gaspard to study… maybe even ask if 'Haseo' wanted to join them? With a nod, Ryou settled on that plan. "Hopefully it'll work though…" He murmured, and when receiving more curious stares he sent all those eyes retreating with a glare. Acting tough came easier to him that expressing his embarrassment at being caught talking to himself in the open, and with long and purposeful strides he made his way to the hospital faster. So long as he got to even spend a few minutes in there talking to Shino, somehow it just made his stressful schedule all the more tolerable. So long as he had that reminder that something important was on the line, and he could do something about it.

---------

"From Alkaid…?" Yuuichi trailed, staring at his screen in surprise. The sent date was from yesterday, and the time stamp revealed that he had received it an hour after Sakaki's. _No wonder I didn't see it…_ he had immediately logged onto The World and sent Sakaki a reply short mail. He then spent his time waiting by helping out newbies, and hurried over to meet the Edge Punisher. Once their conversation finished, he got off so he could head straight to bed. The nineteen-year old currently had an hour lunch break between two of his classes, and initially was going to spend it playing The World again. Yet seeing the e-mail from Alkaid labeled, 'Salvadore Aihara' was enough to convince him to wait on that. Smiling at the familiar sight, he clicked on it. The good news was that due to the short nature of most of Salvadore's episodes, he would have enough time to eat and watch followed by working on some schoolwork. Math and literature would be no problem - but some of the Western philosophy one of his teachers was trying to explain to the class was just beyond his grasp.

The first five episodes were of the Usual Online Jack variety - Salvatore breaking into someone's house, flirting with one of the maids (Yuuichi noticed Salvatore's tendency towards investigating the richer population, which often led to a chance of flirting with maids), and so on. By the end of those first five episodes, the nineteen-year old had learned that one of the politicians was in fact taking illegal bribes, and that one of his maids apparently said something so intense that even New Enterprises felt compelled to bleep that out. Afterwards, he read a short article on the new movie that Salvatore Aihara would be starring in with a grin on his face. _That should be funny. Wonder if I should invite Yuki along? _He wondered in a distant fashion.

The next set of episodes were from the newest season - this one, however, appeared to be centered around 'Doll Syndrome.' _I heard about that on the forums, awhile back,_ Yuuichi noted, and then shrugged before he went to watch it. If Salvatore was investigating it, then the answer would probably become clear. If not, the process would at least be funny. The first episode unsettled the brunette slightly, what with one of his hot buttons being mentioned: Online games being the cause of some unfortunate affects. It always angered him when problems were pinned on games - but considering Salvatore had admitted his own tendency to play The World, Yuuichi found it easier to relax and just enjoy the show. Not to mention he quickly understood why Online Jack would pursue that particular subject. For one, that WAS a hot button for several people. For two, it led him to an elementary school where several young women were starting out as teachers.

But it was the second episode of this season that sent sudden chills up Yuuichi's spine. The kind where he slowly pushed himself away form his computer, and stared at the paused screen in a mixture of confusion, shock, and sudden inexplicable confusion. The child whispering Sakaki was not his concern - considering the extent of Moon Tree's popularity, any well-known name would not have been surprising. What worried him was something more. 'AIDA' was scrolling horizontally across the child's computer screen as Salvatore's head camera recorded every second. His hand was shaking as he stared at the screen, where 'AIDA' still remained in giant red letters. _Why is… why was…? Is their role-play… based off of this…?_

If it so, then why? Being unable to stop shaking, the nineteen-year old took in a deep breath, and quickly exited out of the window before shutting down his computer. He could not watch anymore of the episodes, not like this. Suddenly, it felt all too much like he was pursuing something that went far deeper than mere role-playing. It felt like if he continued, there would be no turning back. Without a word, he quickly went about working on his schoolwork. Thinking about something, anything, that had nothing to do with The World had never been before anymore appealing than it was then.

------------

"Uhm… excuse me…" A soft voice began, but for the most part the loud and obnoxious echoes of the throng of customers that Canard's guild shop obtained after a restock easily overrode something so quiet. For the most part, anyway.

"Are you having some trouble?" Endrance asked gently, looking down at Bo. The twenty-year old had been waiting for Haseo, of whom had sent him a short mail earlier requesting to meet him up there. Of course, considering he had little better to do than wait for the high school student to finish his homework before sneaking back on Endrance was incredibly early.

"Oh… Endrance…" Bo flushed seeing the Blade Brandier, and suddenly looked around. The eleven-year old behind the character was frantically checking for his sister, most likely. "W-well… I wanted to thank Gaspard… in person…" He explained, looking down with a further blush. "But there are so many people here… I-I didn't realize how popular the Acorn is…"

"I see." Endrance was quiet for a moment, before suddenly picking up the short Shadow Warlock and lifting the boy onto his shoulders. "Now try." He offered, and though his voice was as breathless as ever Bo knew that the man exerted no real effort to do this.

"Th-thank you." Bo stammered, feeling his heart hammer in his little chest. What if Saku found out? Was watching? She would take the controls right from him, and then he would never get to thank Gaspard! …but then, Saku would not want to give Endrance a bad impression of her by kicking off her brother of whom he had been attempting to help. At least he had that going for him. "U-uhm… excuse me…" He tried again, and though his voice carried farther the people were still loud as ever and drowned him out once more. That did not matter, however as Gaspard had no trouble suddenly spotting the other Shadow Warlock who was atop Endrance's shoulders. Considering the height of the Blade Brandier suddenly combined with Bo's… the pair were easily the tallest in the miniature item-hungry mob.

"Oh, hey! Bo!" Gaspard's face broke out in a wide grin as he waved the pair closer to the shop. "C-could you guys, uh… make room?" He asked awkwardly, cringing some as a few faces fell.

"But I was in line first…" A male beast of the Lei tribe pouted. The pink Shadow Warlock chewed on his lower lip.

"I think he just wants to talk, not buy…" Gaspard explained awkwardly, and begrudgingly several of the customers nudged themselves out of Endrance's way. Which of course, quickly turned into a 'OH! You're Endrance, former Demon Palace Emperor! Sure, sure, we would LOVE to make room for a guy who could take us down with one hit! Yeah, sure, totally. NO problem!' type of scenario.

"Th-thank you… s-sorry…" Bo apologized in his soft voice, and for the most part no one heard him as they were too busy worrying about getting in Endrance's way. The Blade Brandier then gently put the Shadow Warlock down, and stood by him as he resumed waiting for Haseo's appearance. Somehow, the customers were not surprised by the fact that this particular shop now had Endrance for a bouncer… or so, they assumed that was what he was there for. Obviously someone had to keep the fangirls under control, and who better than the man with The World's second largest fan club, yet always managed to elude them?

"So, uh… d-did you need something?" Gaspard asked, suddenly finding that not only were his real cheeks turning a bright red, but so were his character's. Was he that embarrassed? Surely Bo could see this! Feeling more and more awkward by the second, the pink beast proceeded to fiddling with this or that in a distracted fashion. "M-my e-mail send all right?" He asked hopefully, grasping at whatever came to mind to make himself look less… ridiculous. Or so, that was how he saw himself at that moment.

"Y-yes… th-that's why I'm here." Bo explained, twiddling his fingers together. As the two conversed, they became oblivious to the sudden hush that fell over the crowd - caused namely by several girls who wanted to watch, and threatened any male that dare to interrupt. In their minds, to watch two adorable boys be cute and shy within a natural habitat was far better than going to any zoo and if any man were to mess with this rarity so help the fangirl… "I wanted to thank you. I don't… go to the forums very often. But those pictures… were so beautiful…"

"Y-yeah." Gaspard stammered, and looked down while poking the wood of the shop's front desk. He was unsure what else to say, as the only thing he could think of was, 'beautiful like you.' But that was so cheesy and embarrassing, and he just **knew** Bo would laugh at him! Just like… Yayoi had…

"So, uhm… I was wondering… i-if it would be all right for me to s-send you some pictures, too?" Bo inquired, a bit hesitantly but also somewhat hopefully. "I want to… do something nice… for you in return." He explained, and looked up at the pink beast with the biggest and most adorable red eyes he had ever seen in his puppy love-struck mind.

"S-sure!" Gaspard replied immediately, perking up as his doggish tail wagged excitedly. _What if he's sending me a picture of what he really looks like?_ Were his hopeful thoughts, which quickly fell as a realization hit him. _But then, I'd have to show him mine… right? _At that, he visibly deflated, confusing the blonde Shadow Warlock.

"A-are you… all right?" Bo inquired curiously, peeking over to check on the beast.

"Fine!" Gaspard yelped, his voice unusually high for someone who was allegedly, 'fine.' Endrance glanced briefly at the two when hearing that, a bit curious as to the interactions of the two children. Well, while he waited it would not hurt to keep an eye on the two. Besides, when two people shared a certain kind of affection… this particular Blade Brandier just could not turn a blind eye to it. Those emotions were important to him, and so naturally his full attention was on the two now.

"…okay then!" Bo beamed over at the other, a bright smile lighting his face up. "Then I'll go ahead and get off now, so I have time to send it to you before it becomes Saku's turn! You take care, okay Gaspard?" He chirped happily, and turned before hurrying off. He just had to save, log off, and then he could send Gaspard those pictures he found on Apkallu of the beast! The other would be so surprised by his gift, he just knew it! Oh, and maybe he should send the ones he found of Haseo to the Adept Rogue, as well…

"…you like him, do you not?" Endrance asked suddenly, surprising Gaspard as the crowd leapt forward at the chance to finally make their purchases again. "The way you act around him… so shy, so earnest… he must mean much to you."

"O-oh… well, uhm… we b-became fast friends… of course he means a lot to me." Gaspard rambled, stumbling over a word here and there as he spoke. Now he felt frightened - was he that obvious about his feelings? Did Bo know now? What was he going to do…? Was that the reason the other ran off like that? Was he weirded out? Disgusted? Enduring so much panic, he accidentally handed the wrong item to the wrong customer.

"Hey… I paid for a Health Potion, not a Health Drink." The same male beast from earlier frowned. "Also… was it the Terror of Death who put in this stock? It doesn't seem like the usual stuff he puts in…"

"The Terror of Death has not been on yet." Endrance informed him smoothly, and reaching over the counter gently corrected the small mistake. Gaspard ogled at this action, horrified that someone outside of Canard had dared to place his hand inside of the shop. Yes, he knew Endrance was only trying to help but… the action was sheer blasphemy! Hearing this though, the Lei tribe beast took on a rather sulky expression.

"Oh… well, thanks." He sighed, before hurrying off and being replaced by the next customer. A few of the left, however as they discovered the good items were not available yet.

"…am I really so obvious?" Gaspard asked suddenly, still panicked by Endrance's words and the 'crime' he had just committed, but he was curious none-the-less. Not to mention, the now-slow flow of customers made working much easier for him now. Without the rush, he could at least try harder to be more casual about all of the emotions running wild inside of him. To him, he was covering it well anyway. Anyone with the gift of eyesight could tell he was upset by this.

"To me, you are…" Endrance explained with a roll of his shoulders to express his indifference as to whether or not he felt this to be a problem. Personally, the Blade Brandier liked to express how he felt at all times for fear of his body exploding from emotion. If he did not let it all flow out, surely it would overflow and sweep him away to the beyond AIDA had once briefly showed him. He had no desire to return to such beyond.

"…are you good?" Gaspard asked, looking to the other. When Endrance said nothing, he tried a different approach, "Would you, uhm… say you're just good at telling these things, or am I really just obvious?"

"You're obvious." Haseo answered him simply, having just arrived and making Gaspard jump in alarm. _So that's why Endrance didn't answer me…_

"Oh, there you are… Haseo…" Endrance breathed, taking a step closer to the Adept Rogue who appeared to ignore this movement. "I have been waiting for you…"

"I see that." Haseo noted, quirking a brow at Endrance before side-stepping to stand nearer to Gaspard and a bit further from Endrance. The whole 'NPC' thing was not working out for him, and so for the moment he was trying to think of a way to properly approach Endrance about just anything. Speaking to the other through short mail and e-mails was just fine. A bit awkward, but he could handle it. When the two males and their characters were near one another though, he just had no idea how to respond. "Thank you." He nodded to the other, and turned to Gaspard. "See? I can tell you're upset. What's wrong?" He asked the beast, wanting to take care of his friend at least before setting off to the Serpent of Lore with Endrance (and the ever-dreaded Saku once her turn came around).

"U-uhm… school stuff." Gaspard lied suddenly, unable to stop himself before the false words erupted from his mouth. He cringed, fearing that Endrance would give him away the second the silence fell.

"…oh." Was all Haseo answered with, frowning some. Gaspard cracked open an eye, peering curiously at the Adept Rogue with some confusion. Oh? That was it? "You should probably report that to teachers. I know they're intimidating, but if you don't the bullies will just continue." Haseo continued, and received a shocked stare from the pink Shadow Warlock. _H-he thinks… I'm having bully problems?!_

"N-no…! Not that!" Gaspard yelped, shaking his head fervently while flapping his arms up and down. Haseo patiently waited for the Shadow Warlock to either calm down to explain himself, or fly off like Mecha Grunty at the rapid pace of his movements. Whichever happened first. "N-no… uhm… you know, entrance exams…" He murmured, and cringed once more at the second lie he told. He was just digging himself a hole today, was he not? Although… he was a bit surprised at Haseo. The seventeen-year old could tell that something was wrong with Gaspard, yet could not see through his lies the same way Silabus could. At least the Adept Rogue was making the effort to understand… that was saying more for the other, considering there was a time Haseo would not even make the attempt.

"You should… ask Silabus for help, then." Haseo suggested, and if Gaspard did not know any better he would say the other seemed distantly pleased with this idea. He wondered if the Adept Rogue did not just have one amazing day, or something. Haseo? In a good mood? What was this madness?

"I uh, will… once he gets on." Gaspard nodded, and glanced briefly at Endrance. Seeing the Blade Brandier's whole focus on the seventeen-year old, he could only assume he was simply not exposed due to the other being distracted. "Oh! Don't forget to restock the shop after you take care of business!" He added, and grinned up at the two. Haseo nodded, before motioning for Endrance to follow him. As the two started to walk off, Endrance glanced back up at Gaspard and held one finger up to his lips.

Never before in his entire life, had Gaspard been more relieved than at that moment right there. _He's going to… keep my secret safe…_

* * *

**Disclaimer_:_**_ Attempting to sing this,_ "I do not own .hack, because I am a total quack! It belongs to Bandai-Namco, not Dreams you know! No affiliation here, nor over there! Oh yeah! AIR GUITAR SOLO!" And that is my newest single, "I do not own nor have any affiliation with these games."  
**Author Notes:** So like, apparently I'm AMAZING at killing conversations. I apologize to anyone I killed a conversation with! Please do not hate me. Oh, right, yes! Endrance. I have not a clue what to do with him. He's all... lonely, and unpaired in this particular fanfiction. Any suggestions?


	5. Gone Away

There was absolutely no avoiding it. As he stood dutifully at the Shop Acorn and watched the familiar green clad Blade Brandier approach, Gaspard shuffled awkwardly in the stall. There simply was no lying to Silabus - the brunette would see right through the other's fibbing in no time flat, quite unlike Haseo. Yet, in being honest with the other he had to admit that he lied to Canard's Guild Master. He quietly moaned, knowing the scolding he was sure to receive. Catching sight of the familiar pink beast, Silabus smiled brightly and waved in greeting as he hurried faster to properly greet his friend. Gaspard's own smile was more awkward, and he immediately found himself busying his hands with the various knickknacks remaining in his possession. Mostly odds and ends found ways into the Guild Shop, as other and less frequently active members of Canard donated the excess of his or her items. These rarely sold nearly as well as the more coveted treats left behind in the 'Terror of Death's' wake.

Arriving at the stall, Silabus was his usual friendly and chipper self… but seeing the subtle and awkward movements of the Blade Brandier, Gaspard noticed there was definitely something off with the other's stance. Apparently he was not the only one who had a problem weighing on his mind. "Good afternoon Gaspard. How's the shop doing?" The brunette asked, starting out with pleasantries. No sense in jumping on the landmine right away. Not to mention Silabus had already sent off a short mail to Alkaid requesting to see her briefly later on.

"Not bad. We really need to restock soon, though." Gaspard laughed, albeit nervously. "Haseo had to do something with Endrance, so he hasn't given me anything nice to sell yet." He added on, before wondering why this made Silabus cringe. "So… how was your day?" The pink beast inquired, his words somewhat hesitant.

"Uhm, well… it wasn't a bad day!" Silabus offered as cheerfully as he could, his smile coming naturally but not as broadly. The Shadow Warlock tried to read what the other was feeling. There was no sadness, this much he knew. If there was, the brunette's smile would have been fake or forced. "A bit… unusual, but I don't really know all of the facts." He continued, his face contorting into a thoughtful visage as he tried to sort out just how all of this made him feel at this point. _I mean, if they based their role-play off of that… but, then why did that kid say Sakaki's name?_

"Will you share them once you do?" Gaspard ventured, peering up inquisitively at the other. Since Silabus had not offered to share information initially, he assumed this meant the other was merely too busy thinking to do so. The day the brunette tried to hide information from his very best friend, Gaspard, was the day that Atoli mysteriously developed a mean-streak and started Player-Killing. _Hahah, oohh if that ever happens I hope I am not online…_ the Shadow Warlock thought with a pained cringe. The very idea of any Cleric being that ridiculously powerful was enough to send shivers down his spine.

"Oh! Uhm…" Silabus hesitated. Was any of this within his right to share? "I don't know if I'm allowed to…" He mumbled, and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Gaspard." He apologized, and reached forward to place a hand on the Shadow Warlock's shoulder. In a brief and sudden panic, Gaspard checked to see if Atoli was online. She was. Confusing Silabus in the process, the small beast inspected the area best he could to verify there was no rampaging blonde. None yet. "Gaspard? Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah… just, why wouldn't you?" Gaspard asked, figuring that if he was going to end up being PKed by Atoli, he at least deserved to know **why**. What in all of The World, could be worth such a traumatic event?

"Well, none of it is my information to share… to be honest, I don't think I'm even supposed to know." Silabus laughed nervously, pulling his hand away in order for his index fingers to begin a long and overly drawn-out purpose of twiddling. "And I don't want to get you in trouble." He finished, his hazel eyes flicking to Gaspard's green ones. Green. He should have given his character green eyes. Why did he pick hazel again? "Listen, Gaspard if I'm allowed to-"

"I understand. Really." The Shadow Warlock made himself smile, and nodded to the Blade Brandier. "If you can tell me, I'll really appreciate it… but if you can't, I do understand it isn't your place to tell me. I mean, sure I'm kind of disappointed you can't. But that isn't something you can help, you know?" Not to mention, he would rather feel secure in knowing that Silabus would not tell others his secrets instead of worrying the brunette would spill just because he felt guilty. A few players passing by gave the pair a suspicious glance, unaccustomed to hearing anyone be so honest about how they felt. A few shrugged, assuming this was just a live-action RP, while others murmured, "gay," as they continued along his or her way.

"…all right. Well then. How is your little secret situation coming along then?" Silabus inquired, changing the subject abruptly while leaning forward and grinning at his friend. The question worked like a switch, and just lit Gaspard's face right up.

* * *

"This really is a nuisance." Saku huffed, hands on her hips imperialistically with the scowl of a spoiled princess. "Not to mention, what is the deal with the third and fourth wheel? A bicycle only needs two, you know." She went on, and her left foot soon began to tap rapidly as her patience decreased at an alarming rate. Soon, it would be Bo's turn and she would have to spend that much less time with her precious Endrance. Did these imbeciles not realize how important the few minutes she could spend with her beloved was? None of **them** had to share a computer, let alone a character! Of course, running these menial errands seemed to matter to Endrance, and whatever he wanted she would consent to. On a begrudging note, even she was aware that he only wanted to because Haseo wanted him to.

"Third and fourth wheel…?" Pi repeated, pink brows knitting together as she took the girl's words into her version of consideration. "…right. Well then, you two… bicycle wheels, heard Master Yata. Don't use your Avatars to cheat in The World, don't discuss any matters related to or of interest to G.U.-"

"Yeah, they heard him the first time." Haseo grumbled. He already knew why he had been invited to join in this meeting. Everything Yata had said, he already knew… but he was there because Yata wanted him to speak with Saku and Endrance about assisting with the destruction of AIDA. The invitation extended to Haseo was merely to make the 'guild' look more professional. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" He added, watching the woman.

"Do you flirt with everyone you come in contact with, or what?" Saku raised a brow at the Adept Rogue, her voice exaggerated with a distant hint of smugness about it. Her comment went ignored.

"I could ask the same of you." Pi pointed out, and turned on her heel with her two pigtails whipping around with her. "You have friends on here, right?"

"Even guys! You must be some kind of weird, crazy pervert." Saku continued, not one to be so easily ignored. Despite her attempt to obtain Haseo's attention (which she only wanted so she could subtly anger him, and then wail to Endrance about the teenager being mean to her… and then he would pull her into his strong, muscular embrace with the scent of roses whirling about the two of them, only the two of them…!) Now lost in her daydream, the Shadow Warlock effectively kicked her own self out of the conversation. Which was unfortunate, because Haseo had been ready to wheel on her only to realize even if he yelled she would not have heard.

"…o-kay." Haseo took in a deep breath, and looked to Endrance who stood at sudden and immediate attention now that the Adept Rogue was sparing him a glance. "Could you bring her back to The World, please? We need to discuss something. Together." The way Endrance looked at him, Haseo felt the need to add on, "The **three** of us."

"Saku? Saku, we need to talk…" Endrance murmured gently, breaking the girl from her wild imaginations and into newer ones that while only existing in her head she used surrounding real-time events to further fuel and feed these thoughts.

"Yes, Master En?" Saku responded sweetly, clasping her hands together in front of her face. Now, if only he would just reach out and take her hands into his the moment would be complete! She waited. Nothing happened. Just… one… more… minute…!

"Haseo wishes to discuss some things with us." Endrance informed her softly, with his uncovered eye gazing patiently at her and his hands still at his side. Not taking her hands. Which remained clasped, and waiting. Annnyyy minute now. Whoa, wait. Haseo?

"What? Why do I have to listen to him?" Saku hissed, turning to stare at the Adept Rogue. Realizing who she was speaking to, she quickly changed her tune however. "Yes, well… of course, if that is what you would like to do, Master En. Unfortunately though, it is my brother's turn." She rolled her eyes. "But he can listen in my stead. He'll catch me up with the details." She nodded, and unclasped her hand. Of course Endrance did not embrace her. He was shy! Stupid Haseo. If he was not there to embarrass her poor, wonderful one true love the situation would have turned out differently! Oh well, another time then. The two men watched her character fall abruptly idle and unusually androgynous.

"How do you tolerate that all day?" Haseo asked, rubbing his temples as he waited for Bo to take the controls.

"She attends school." Endrance reminded Haseo in his dreamy tone. "And must go to bed… give Bo his turn…"

"Okay, okay I get it. You don't deal with her ALL day." Haseo grumbled, crossing his arms petulantly. "…when do you get offline?"

"Whenever I use the bathroom." Endrance answered automatically, earning a blank look from the Adept Rogue. "Hmm?"

"…you play the game while you sleep?" That was a joke. It had to be. But then… Endrance joking was an odd, if somewhat mortifying thought. Somehow, Haseo got the impression that this Blade Brandier's sense of humor was… not quite as good as the other one's.

"No, I fall asleep while playing The World. When I wake up, I resume playing." The violet-haired man answered simply, and rolled his shoulders in sort of careless shrug. "I must admit though. Cooking while fighting the Bosses you tend to favor is at times… trying." At this bit of information, Haseo tried his hardest to not stare. Yet, this was difficult. Endrance. Cooking. In the middle of a fight. Why, oh why did that sound like a fire hazard? …and what was the deal with Blade Brandiers having addictive problems with The World? Silabus jogging outside where cars could run him over, Endrance cutting vegetables with sharp knives… how was the brunette in one piece, and how exactly did the violet-haired man retain all ten fingers?

"What do you like to cook?" Bo asked in the background, his character back up and moving once more. Distantly, Haseo could not help but wonder why CC Corp did not put on a limit in regards to how often one might change the gender of his or her character. With how often Bo and Saku switched, surely someone was losing their mind.

"Oh, whatever I happen to fancy at the moment…" Endrance trailed, once more with a careless shrug. A shiver traced its way along the Adept Rogue's spine, but he chose to ignore the sensation.

"Wow… you must have all kinds of ingredients in your kitchen!" Bo beamed, watching the man with admiration for a brief moment. Once that passed, he turned to Haseo. "Saku says you wanted to talk with us about something? What is it?" He asked, and though the youngest somehow was the only one capable of getting the trio back onto the original subject. This was no surprise, as Bo was always eager to help the Adept Rogue out when needed.

"Right…" Haseo sighed, and scratched at the base of his head. Blowing out a breath, he pressed the according buttons to switch over to group mode. This way, only the other two could hear him. Yet another rule of G.U. that he had to follow…

* * *

_Have you asked Silabus to help you study yet?_

_-_Haseo

_No, ahh… I actually forgot, hahah. Sorry, Haseo. We got to talking about some other stuff, and then he had to go meet-up with Alkaid… _

_-_Gaspard

_He isn't hanging out with you? Or helping n00bs…?_

-Haseo

_He's probably helping some n00bs with Alkaid. You know I'm not big on that leveling stuff. :P Besides, Kuhn dropped by here to hang with me for a bit. Hope you're having fun leveling, Haseo!_

-Gaspard

"You really shouldn't ask people to meet up with you if you're going to be late!" Alkaid huffed, hands on her hips. She could not prevent the smile from cracking on her face however, and the fact she just sent the brunette an Invite to form a party further showed her words did not match her mood. "What took you so long? Ask me to come to the Hulle Granz Cathedral, and then be late for our wedding? I somehow don't think this relationship will work out…" She joked, her grin widening to a split when seeing the brunette blush. "It's okay, I was seeing someone else too so it's no big deal." She went on, meanwhile he sputtered at her. "I suppose that'll do. So, what's up? Haven't really heard from you in awhile. I'm usually busy off kicking ass, and you're busy training my future protégés to kick ass fairly."

"…uhm… well…" Silabus hesitated, still slightly flustered from Alkaid's playful greeting. Not that what she said embarrassed him exactly - it was just that, he knew for a fact she was sixteen. The brunette was a lot of things, but a lolicon was definitely not one of them. Taking a deep breath, he quickly gathered his thoughts while Alkaid waited patiently. "O-okay. You know those Online Jack videos you sent me recently?" He asked, figuring the easiest place to start was at the beginning. Not always the most logical, but generally easiest.

"Yeah? Pretty intense, huh? I was kind of surprised, myself…" Alkaid nodded, divulging the information that she had watched the same ones as well. "Usually Salvador is funnier than that, but I guess it just didn't seem as much because it hit pretty close to home, you know? The whole Doll's Syndrome, and The World being a potential cause, I mean." She rambled, suddenly feeling nervous. _Why would Silabus want to talk with me about this?_

"Yeah, that kind of made me uncomfortable, too. And a bit peeved." Silabus gave a nervous laugh. The redhead merely raised a brow, and despite all attempts to imagine an angry brunette no visual was rendered. "But what I was curious about, was that… did you notice the kid said Sakaki's name?" He asked, watching her carefully for some type of response. She gave a roll of her shoulders.

"I'll admit that Sakaki isn't an average name, but I would imagine there to be more than one person who wields absolute rights over it." Alkaid answered with a shrug along with a slightly relieved smile. _So long as he doesn't think he's getting Doll's Syndrome, or whatever…_ "I mean, sure that Professor guy mentioned Moon Tree and all of that… but I think it might be some kind of stunt. Atoli and I have been hanging out a bit more, and she's been babbling about all of these new guild members since that happened. They all want to meet Sakaki, and know about this 'Aida' stuff, and on and on…" She rolled her eyes.

"Do you know anything about it?" Silabus finally brought himself to ask, though he was a bit unsure as to whether or not he should. The brunette was also a bit ashamed of himself. Even now, he was still pursuing all of this… even following in the footsteps of others, and asking Sakaki.

"Me? Not a thing. Not really interested. I'm sure it'll all become clear in the next episode or two of Online Jack." Alkaid smiled, and reached forward to gently knock the brunette on the jaw making him cringe. Though she had to stand on her tippytoes to do so, the effort was not without reward. He gave her a fond smile in return, and ruffled her already disheveled red hair. "Were you worried about Atoli?" She continued, and if Silabus did not know any better he thought he caught a hint of curiosity that delved into something deeper than casual interest.

"Yes, Atoli... and a few others. I don't know, it just seems kind of dangerous to be involving happenings of The World with a subject as serious as Doll's Syndrome…" He tried to explain to her, though his words came out rather awkwardly. The Twin Blade eyed him, trying to see more into his words. In their prior conversations, she had learned he wanted to be a journalist or reporter of some sorts. Taking this into account, she was well-aware that he could be mighty tricky with words at times. While what he said betrayed nothing, the shifting from one foot to the other and other subtleties told her there was more than what he had just let on. Rather than pursue immediately, she nodded and began to bide her time. There was something or someone he was intentionally leaving out, and she was going to find out why.

"That is a pretty heavy subject… but you should probably keep in mind that both CC Corp and Salvador Aihara are both planning movies. I know Online Jack does a lot of truth-revealing, but this could be a sort of idea to combine facts with promotions. They do say that NEAR-enter Corp has no shame…" The red-haired trailed, letting her logical reasoning set in. "Either way, is that all that was on your mind?" This was the moment. The brunette's last chance to save himself from forceful exposure.

"…no, but I appreciate you speaking with me." Silabus replied truthfully, and gave her one of his warmest smiles. "I'm sorry we don't talk as often anymore, and even more so for contacting you out of the blue to have such a heavy conversation as our first one in so long… but, I really do appreciate it. Thank you, Chika."

"…no problem, Yuuichi. You be careful out there. And also… next time we talk, I'll find out what you didn't say this time." Providing her own smile, the brunette stood there dumbfounded as she hurried off to begin her day's leveling up process.

"…" It was nice, having someone read him so well once again. Someone who was closer to his own age, and did not keep secrets about Aida from him…

* * *

_I didn't know Alkaid and Silabus were becoming fast friends…_ Haseo mused to himself, entering Canard's atHOME base with a yawn. He had some items he wanted to synthesize, and while there the Adept Rogue figured that as painful as it was… he could restock Acorn through that ridiculous Death Grunty. _Little bastard,_ was the name he had assigned to the miniaturized, and disturbingly piggish version of himself. At times he had to wonder though - if the Death Grunty took on the visual appearance of the Guild master, what in The World's name did that thing look like when Kuhn was running the place? The very image… well, Haseo rarely laughed these days but that always earned a snicker (a rather unpleasant one, at that).

He was also somewhat disappointed in Gaspard, though not for the reason he should have been. His entire plan depended on the pink Shadow Warlock requesting Silabus for help. Surely the two would then think, 'Hey, Haseo probably has exams to worry about as well… we should invite him!' Voila. Two problems taken care of, easy as could be. Well, it would be when the youngest remembered to ask. Perhaps he should be suggesting all of this to Alkaid? She would not let him down. Or maybe Bo… but, Saku's turn had begun and somehow or another she managed to drag Endrance off. Likely because the Blade Brandier needed something to do, and could not follow the Adept Rogue into Canard due to not being a member.

"OMG! The Terror of Death…!" A fan girl's cry suddenly split through Haseo's plotting, and his eyes widened at the sound but rather than jump he simply turned his head to stare at the female character in mild alarm. _What the hell?_ He thought, and was now trying to figure out what had screamed this. There were two other members in Canard - both were female, and looked to be fairly new to the game if their equipment was anything to judge the two by. One was a female human Blade Brandier (this was common for 'office' n00bs as that was one of the easiest classes to master), while the second was a female Lei Tribe Macabre Dancer. Both appeared to be deep in discussion about some sort of story called, 'Candy Store.'

"…" He watched the two closely for a moment, before rolling his eyes and beginning the short trek to leave the atHOME. There were drawbacks to being a rather infamous PKKer, winner of two Arena champions, along with having his name attached to a Guild due to being its master. This was one of them. Items upgraded, store restocked… now all he had to do was distribute these items to a few of his closer friends and he would be finished with that part of his day. Then he had to contact Kuhn back about a possible AIDA signal… was sleep anywhere on his schedule for the night?

"Ooohh, I think he was watching me…" One of the girls crooned, making him roll his eyes once more the second he left. Really, sometimes he got the feeling that he was the first male recruit into Canard in months. There was practically nothing but girls running amok in that guild these days. Not that Silabus or Gaspard really helped matters. The little Shadow Warlock unknowingly played the shota card on all of these poor women, while Silabus was just so damn nice most girls misunderstood his friendly nature with being… an entirely different sort of friendly. _Speak of the Brandier…_ he thought, when catching sight of a slightly distracted Silabus heading towards Canard.

"Hey." Haseo called, giving a short wave to the brunette who jumped at the greeting. Brown eyes blinked rapidly, before offering a sheepish smile and return of the gesture. "Wait there." The Adept Rogue commanded, taking a few long strides so that he was close enough to click on the green-clad character to send a Gift.

"All right…" Silabus laughed, somewhat nervously. It felt so strange to be in the other's presence, especially after all of the snooping around he had been doing behind Haseo's back. Guilt. Lots and lots of it. And… something else he could not quite place, but he knew that somehow Atoli tied into all of this. Briefly, silver brows quirked inquiringly at the brunette, but the Blade Brandier was too preoccupied feeling guilty to notice.

"There you go. Same Blade, but it has a plus-5 on it now so the stats should be slightly improved." Haseo informed the other, maintaining his gaze that was at once questioning and demanding of an answer.

"This is great, Haseo!" Silabus smiled, though his guilty feelings were now spilling into his expressions. Misinterpreting the reason as to why, the Adept Rogue's brows rose in mild surprise.

"…so, yeah. I'll see you around then." Haseo mumbled, maneuvering around the brunette who was now so relieved that he was not so blatantly obvious the Adept Rogue demanded an explanation from him that he barely registered how uncomfortable he had just made the younger. Hurrying towards the Chaos Gate of Dol Dona, Haseo quietly tried to make sense of what had just happened. Was he making Silabus feel guilty, of all things? Why? _Is it because I'm always giving him better items…?_ He wondered. In the past, the brunette was always ecstatic about the upgrades… even joking that he was going to tell Gaspard so the Shadow Warlock would be jealous, but both knew he was not going to be serious. Haseo provided the pink Tu Tribe member nice items as well (he certainly got enough excesses when taking care of all those AIDA is all of those dungeons). Yet, why the sudden change? Even as he sent Kuhn a short mail, he could not fathom a reason why or even explain why this bothered him so damn much.

Back at Canard, the brunette hesitated outside. He knew that Ill Literate and her friend were waiting for him inside to begin another day of learning the ways of The World, but part of him wanted to chase after Haseo and apologize. Explain, and beg for his friend's forgiveness. Now that his cloud of relief was gone, Silabus had a sneaking suspicion he had very well offended the Adept Rogue. Maybe he should cancel with the two n00bs - they seemed to be fairly understanding young women. Then he could send Haseo a short mail, or even get off and compose an entire e-mail… or…

…_or face getting yelled at, making Haseo feel betrayed by telling him all of this. _Taking a deep breath, Silabus entered the guild and already felt like he was taking a dive without at least making sure there was water below to save him.

* * *

**Disclaimer:** Stay tuned for Dream's next hit single, "I Still Ain't Ownin' No .hack, Its There Characters, Nor Find Meself Affiliated With That Lot (however much I'd like to, love)!"  
**A/N:** Sorry this took so long. I was like, crazy busy and had no worthwhile ideas. AS YOU CAN VERY WELL TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT THIS CRAPTASTIC CHAPTER. Anyway, I would like the opinion of whomever is still reading on something. D'ya mind? Sure hope not. Anywho, basically I'm having issues with the plot of this thing. See, there IS not real plot. Simply an idea that is wearing thin on carrying everything, and as I am crazy I don't want to force Haseo and Silabus to jump at each other like a pair of sexually frusterated teenagers to make the two be together. Funny as that would be, not this time. xD So! I ask you lovelies your opinion - I originally intended this fanfiction to have no spoilers for the end of volume two and three of the G.U. series... would you mind if I disregard this initial idea, and have the story follow along with the rest of the trilogy, with obvious tweaks and adjustments being made as we all amble along? I cannot guarantee this'll end where volume three does, but I will sure try to adjust it to the point of the Haseo and Silabus ending. Best friends my butt, they're going to have a damn wedding and THEY'LL LIKE IT.  
.......don't judge me, please. D:


	6. But I Won't Cry

_In a land trapped by darkness, an unending Twilight… _Scenes of Shadow Warlocks firing off rounds after rounds of spells, _two Heroes will rise up to solve this mystery and save The World from Disaster!_

The television was flicked off, a scowl becoming just barely audible in the now silenced room. Behind the vocal disapproval, a hum of a computer thrived. Light-colored tendrils of long hair fell over an equally pale face, the blue glow of the monitor giving the hair an almost metallic blue shade. One hand boredly thrummed on the table, waiting idly for the word that everything would be okay again. He could wait. Before, he had waited seven years for everything to be 'okay again.' Then they were, for a time… then darkness, having returned as those oppressive nights always must. To complete the cycle once more, light returned… and now, everything was fine.

Well, almost. Exempting the abuse being displayed by CC Corp on the television now. Exempting the fact that there was a Kite who was not Kite - not that this was new. Once, there had been a Kite who was not Kite… but that had been a boy named Shugo, as told by Balmung. This new one was… different. Not to mention, so were the circumstances. This time, there had been a Mia who was not Mia as well. _I wonder… if this is what draws so many to The World…_ The mystery. The intrique. The…

"Kaoru! The internet is working again!" His mother called from afar. The moment he heard these words, everything was 'okay' again and with expert hands The World returned with the click of a button and the proper placement of a M2D. Once more, Endrance walked with graceful steps with a Saku on his heels immediately.

"Master En, what happened?" She whined, pulling on his arm while puffing out her cheeks in what was her aim to be an adorable pout. Red eyes glanced around, and seeing that there was no AIDA, he returned his gaze back to her.

"Something happened with the internet, is all." He assured her in a slight murmur, his voice carrying no farther than a few feet within the virtual realm. "Was there not AIDA here a moment ago…?" He asked, silvery brow furrowing in mild confusion. Had Saku taken care of them all while he was away? Endrance could have sworn he had only been gone briefly, but now…

"You… you don't have dial-up, do you?" Saku gasped, eyes widening in bewilderment as she covered her mouth. Her poor Master En! Maybe… maybe… she poked the ground awkwardly with her foot. "If… if so Master En, you could always come over to my place… we have… wireless cable…" She went on, and then looked up. "Oh, right. The AIDA." That was what they were there for. Of course (though in her happy place this was a DATE formed by destiny, ohoho). "I took care of one of them… but for some reason the others just kind of…" She trailed, watching the wind blow through the grass of the field. The graphics really were gorgeous, especially those on certain male Blade Brandiers whose favourite colour was potentially a shade of purple.

"No." Endrance replied flatly, both to her offer and her inquiry about his internet provisions. Leave his house, Kaoru did not. Speak like Yoda, Kaoru sometimes did. Mulling over her answer, he pulled up his collection of Member's Addresses (which until recently had essentially none on it) to check who was all online. Most of the Addresses had been added out of necessity rather than want - the only one he had actually cared to have was Haseo's but with all of this AIDA business he had needed that of the other members of G.U. _I wonder if that other Shadow Warlock is online…_ he thought to himself, glancing down curiously at Saku. Pi was online, but just like Haseo her status was set to 'busy.' While true, he could just go report this to Yata his preference was to provide this unusual data to a certain Adept Rogue. He felt more needed by Haseo, and as a result was more inclined to tell him than some Tribal Grappler he just met. The two had been at this for awhile now. Surely Bo's turn was nearing?

"Oh… well… if you ever change your mind, you have my e-mail!" Saku brightened, not even slightly put off by her Master's response. _Aww, Master En your shyness is much too cute sometimes!_ She thought, dreamily gazing up at him. "So now what? Shall we head back to Dol Dona and just mix and mash words again?" She inquired, before brightening. "Or… or maybe we could… huh? What?" She called, her character slowing becoming an odd mix between frozen and moving. "Hang on a minute," She sighed, rolling her eyes before stopping entirely. Endrance waited - this was not the first time such a thing took place. Minutes passed, and as he waited Endrance figured that there would be no harm in protecting the idle character from monsters that had respawned in Saku's absence. If Saku's turn had not been up before, by the time she did it was most certainly her brother's chance to play.

A soft-spoken cry of, "Suvi Lei," stopped a monster briefly in its tracks as paralysis took hold. Taking this chance, Endrance gave a final swipe as the experience became added to both character's stats. "S-sorry about that… mom needed us both for a few chores." Bo apologized, putting away his Grimoire. He received a nod of understanding, and the two began moving once more. "Saku says there aren't anymore AIDA here… what do we do now? This was the only field Yata gave us much data for…" The Shadow Warlock unknowingly repeated the words of his sibling, and stopped once Endrance did.

"Perhaps… gathering a few supplies, would be in our best interests. I am… low on Health Drinks." Endrance noted, namely because he almost never kept track of his inventory. Since joining Haseo, he had no need to - the Adept Rogue simply gave him what he needed and that was that. Before then… well, that was before and this was now. Not to mention, he knew the perfect little shop to make purchases from. Even if that shop's prices were higher than necessary, _Haseo really needs to speak with them about that._

"Hahah, I'm kind of low on Sprite and Fairy Drops…" Bo admitted a bit sheepishly. Endrance nodded, being unsurprised by this recalling his days as a Wavemaster in The World R:1. Nothing depleted SP quite like using Skills in rapid-fire succession to either heal one's comrades or harm one's enemies. Taking a deep breath, making his character appear to smell the greenery around him when in actuality the individual behind the pixels caught the waft of the start of tonight's dinner. The controls were flicked, turned so slightly and gently the even outside of the game not a soul could have heard the movement and with the command put in place Endrance began a casual yet dignified walk towards the Warp Point. Bo hustled after, less graceful than his current party member but this was merely an attribute of his that made him more endearing. The Blade Brandier glanced briefly, watching the young man follow though his distance from the elder was less in comparison to his sister.

Ah, yes Saku. Endrance spoke little, and even more rarely in regards to those that chose to surrounds themselves about him. The only exceptions had been Mia and Haseo. Mia… the pain was still there, distant yet unyielding. Mia, the woman of whom he had dedicated so much time and adoration to. Mia, the Player Character that had joined him in so many events and quests. The Mia who… the Mia who no longer… his breath was shaky, and for the briefest of moments the World almost crumbled before him again. No, Mia may not have needed him any longer… but, Haseo did. That was enough, that was all he needed. Which was why, despite her clingy ways and at times obnoxious manners Endrance could never be cruel or chase away Saku. At least, not intentionally - not now, at any rate. With clearer eyes, he saw so much in her now that was in himself once upon a time. Chasing, chasing… striving to be needed, wanting to be needed. To be loved. Adored, cared for and assured at all times of that love and need. These were not things he could reciprocate to her, but he would permit her to follow him. To be with him, just as Mia had permitted Elk to be with her. Permitted Kaoru to be with her.

The two warped to Dol Dona, leaving behind a Field clear of all AIDA signals and a path straight to the Beast Statue for whatever lucky player happened to notice to exposed treasure awaiting them. As the blue lines cleared, Endrance took his long strides in a beeline directly for Acorn as Bo happily bounded after him. "Haseo says good job to you and Saku for taking care of the signals!" The young man chirped, and the tension Endrance endured moments again melted away feeling the recognition and appreciation. Even if spoken through Bo's voice, the Blade Brandier had no doubts about what the young man was conveying. Bo was not the type to lie, and contacting his 'big brother' with the updates were fairly expected of him at this point.

"Endrance…? And Bo?" Gaspard blinked, standing stock still at his stall with wide green eyes as he stared in amazement. Endrance was coming to Acorn, and there was no Haseo attached. Was he to meet the Adept Rogue there? And with BO!? Or was Endrance…? "H-hey!" He greeted, smiling awkwardly.

"Yup, my turn started a few minutes ago!" Bo beamed, running the remaining distance to the stall with a broad smile. "Did you get my e-mail all right? There were a lot of pictures of you on Apkallu! You're really popular, aren't you?" The way Bo with such ease towards him, Gaspard actually found himself stumbling more than usual. The other Shadow Warlock was usually much more shy than this - did he feel more open around him because they were so close in age, the e-mails the exchanged, what…?

"Oh, uhm… I don't know about that, hahah." Gaspard laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head awkwardly and misplacing a Health Drink. Now where did that go? "But y-yes, I did. They were really good…" And he was somehow unsurprised that at least half of them included a Silabus somewhere in the picture. The two went together like soy sauce on… just about everything (much of which he could no longer eat courtesy of his parents). "Not sure about popular, eheh." The cute puppy eyes worked almost every time with a PK, though. Apparently with customers and artists as well.

"Are you busy?" Bo asked abruptly, looking around with wide eyes while holding a hand close to his chest. "I.. I don't want to interrupt your business again, like I did that one day…" He stammered, recalling how many of the other players had to wait for their supplies. He still felt that pang of guilt.

"N-no! You're fine!! S-see, no one here but us! Ahahahaha!" Gaspard was laughing perhaps a bit too much on that one.

"Hey… you're right. That's odd. Where's your friend?" Bo wondered, looking around before he began to circle the stand curiously. "The guy in green. Silas… right?"

"You mean Silabus? W-well… he's been busy with a lot of stuff lately…. And… I think he's meeting with Alkaid about something right now…" Gaspard rambled, now wondering that himself. What had been Silabus been up to lately? He was seeing the Blade Brandier less and less lately, and this time it had nothing to do with Crimson VS or schoolwork. Not that Silabus had really explained anything to him, outside of the green-clad man was not sure if it was information he should be sharing. Highly suspicious.

"We should all hang out sometime, then." Bo spoke suddenly, and then fidgeted awkwardly. "That is, if you two don't mind…" He added, suddenly flushing at being too presumptuous. The only reason he put forth the suggestion was because he wanted Gaspard to hang out with his friend. And he did like hanging out with Gaspard, so that just kind of… slipped out.

"Oh, uhm… no! Not at all! I don't mind, and Silabus always likes meeting new people! Well, you two have met before… but, uh…" This conversation was going in all kinds of directions, and none of which were where the Tu Tribe member wanted it to go. Pleasant. Think pleasant. "DoyouplayCrimsonVS?" No! That was not pleasant, that was bragging! Just because he was the Champion did not mean he had to prattle on about it!

"Not really." Bo smiled serenely in reply. "Do you, Gaspard? Is it fun? I never really understood how to play… and Saku usually gives away the cards we have for items…" He muttered, looking down at his feet. Gaspard was trying to hard to make conversation, and here he was disappointing the other!

"W-well… it's fun, at least… I think so…" Gaspard mumbled. And then he looked up, and still standing there was Endrance. What was he waiting for? "Wh-what about you, Endrance?" He asked, finding polite compulsion dragging the Blade Brandier into the conversation.

"Mmmm? Sorry, short mailing Haseo…" Endrance said wearily, and glanced down at the two. "I hope you both enjoy your conversation. I must go now…" Without another word, he then began to walk away.

"…does he do that a lot?" Gaspard asked, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"A lot more, actually." Bo confirmed with a slight nod, tilting his head.

* * *

_Hey Atoli - want to do a quest together? We can invite Haseo along, or someone else if you like._

-Alkaid

_Uhm, well… not right now, I'm sorry. Maybe tomorrow! _

-Atoli

...

_Silabus, it's Gaspard! : ) Think we can study together sometime? I have exams coming up you know, and since you're older than me and all - or so you claim x ) Now's your chance to prove it!_

-Gaspard

_Are you still going on with that? Hahah, well I guess I will have to prove it to you! When's a good time, little buddy?_

-Silabus

_Say, Haseo… want to study with Silabus an me? Since you're been bothering me so much about it, I figured you probably secretly want a study-buddy too, huh? X ) If so, let me know a good time so I can tell Silabus!_

-Gaspard

* * *

The Adept Rogue read over the shortmail again. And again. Silabus had been acting a bit strange, and almost avoidant around him lately. Whenever he saw the Blade Brandier today, the brunette kept giving him this awkward, almost embarrassed smile before mysteriously spotting a newbie that Haseo could have sworn was not there before. Though, considering Silabus having the power tosummon newbies was not an ability he would put past the other - or even question (but he was curious). Yet, here was this shortmail from Gaspard all but saying that the brunette was going to assist the two. "Hang on a second Atoli, I need to BRB." The Adept Rogue sighed, before Ryou removed the M2D from his face in order to massage his temples. From the headset he heard Atoli's faint voice of, "okay!"

This was all getting far too complicated considering originally his plan was for this to be a simple solution to two developing problems. Spend time with Silabus (who seemed hurt his friend was not spending time with him anymore), and prepare for exams amidst all of this crazy AIDA stuff, saving Shino, and just… well, pretty much everything in his life. Of course, now Silabus seemed to be avoiding him which defeated purpose one of this plan. Then, with the studying the brunette was okay. Standing up, he made a beeline straight for the kitchen. He needed a drink, water, fluid, something. Sending mixed signals was not like Silabus, at least not in his experience with his elder. Downing a glass, he returned to his computer before fitting back on the M2D and Haseo's red eyes opened once again.

"Sorry about that. Thirsty." He explained briefly, and once more started an aggravated trudge through the dungeon. Why always dungeons? Were the AIDA simply attracted to the dreary make-up of the dungeon-type fields, or was there something more sinister involved? Where was one, anyway? He had the sudden urge to make violent, stabbing motions with his Broadsword. Or Twin Blades. Pretty much stabbing motions with anything would suit him just fine at this point.

"That's fine Haseo. Are you tired? Do you want to take a longer break?" Atoli inquired, hurrying after him best her player character could. Her worrying as making him grit his teeth - or maybe just because she was talking about everything he wanted to do but no longer had time for.

"No. I'm fine, Atoli." Haseo ground out, and sucked in a deep breath. "Just… I'm fine, okay? Chill out." Blowing out a breath, he pressed on while the blonde paused momentarily as she stood there gazing. Lost, almost. Like a puppy whose owner scolded it for an action it had never done, and now wondered… what happened? _Did I do something wrong…? Why am I… always doing something wrong…?_ Shivering, Atoli forced herself to hurry after. "Let's just find the AIDA, and meet up with Kuhn at the Platform like he wanted." Stupid Kuhn and Pi.

"Uhm… Kuhn took care of the AIDA signal while you were gone…" Atoli trailed, flinching when Haseo stopped midstep and whirled to stare at her. "I was going to tell you, b-but then I got so worried and…"

"…whatever. Fine. Then we'll just meet up with Kuhn then." Haseo growled, his steps becoming long and angry strides. Stabbing. Now. Damn it all, where was Bordeaux and her lackeys when he needed them? They were always fun to beat up. Or maybe a Chaotic PK, for the Bounty Hunter quests… even a monster! But no, between him, Atoli, and Kuhn all of the monsters had been laid to waste. There was no longer even an AIDA to release the developing frustration. As he barreled towards the Platform, Atoli stumbled and hurried best she could to keep up with him. It was final - she had once again did something to upset him. But for all the Chim spheres in the game, she could not fathom what she crime she had committed other than being concerned for the other player's well-being. Was that really so wrong…? Or had Shino acted differently, and she just… was not being a good enough stand-in for the other?

When they reached Kuhn, she tried to hide the slight trembling of her player character. _It doesn't do you any good to worry them… at least, Kuhn… they have enough on their minds…_ she chided herself, nibbling on her lower lip. "Hey you two kids. AIDA signal taken care of, everything's peachy." The Steam Gunner announced, hands on his hips with a relaxed grin. "Now why don't we all head off to bed, get some well-deserved rest? You both did great out there today."

Atoli smiled to him, feeling no better than she had a moment ago but appreciating his kind words all the same. Leave it to him to give the two a pep talk. Haseo rolled his eyes and sighed, before stepping around Kuhn and leaving the Area without another word.

"…what crawled into his pants?" The blunette asked, furrowing his brows and watching the last of the blue rings disappear behind the Adept Rogue.

"I… I might have said something to upset him… I'm sorry…" Atoli whispered quietly, her eyes becoming downcast. "I didn't mean to…"

"Whoa! Hey, Atoli no worries princess!" Kuhn yelped, rushing to her side and gently rubbing her character's back. "It's all right. You know that Haseo - he's just a bit of a hormonal teen. I bet he just missed some show he wanted to catch, or something… hahah… don't let him get you down, all right? I was like that when I was his age."

"Y-you were?" Atoli gasped, her head shooting up so fast she almost clipped Kuhn's face had he not jumped out of the way.

"Well, no actually… I was more hormonal to other guys, and always nice to the girls… but, I think he just has so much on his mind he forgets there's a difference some days." Kuhn offered an awkward smile. "He treats everyone about the same. Well, except maybe Bo and Saku… but they're kids." And now Kuhn was just rambling on about nothing.

"…hey, Kuhn… you say you're nice to all of the girls but… you and Pi haven't really…" The blonde began, but seeing his character tense she once more began fervently apologizing. "Sorry! It's none of my business! I was just… I'm so sorry…"

"I-it's fine Atoli! Fine, really!" Kuhn laughed nervously, and blew out a breath. "No no, it is your business… I'm over here expecting you to do everything I ask, and at the same time so is Pi… our disagreements affect you - of course it is your business. You have every right to ask." The Steam Gunner started to pace, desperately trying to find a way to explain himself. "You see, it's just that… Yata doesn't seem to really care about the users. It is always The World this, The World that… yeah, I enjoy the game… but I can't when there's stuff like the Server Crises taking place and trapping people I know, I care about inside. Gaspard was trapped… some of the girls I chat with were trapped… and there was almost nothing, nothing I could do about it. And Pi just… agrees with Yata. She always agrees with him." His shoulders sagged, and he closed his eyes. "It's like none of us other member's opinions have no effect, no meaning to her. If Yata agrees, then we matter. If we disagree, we don't…"

"…Kuhn…" Atoli reached forward, and conjured her best smile as she bent over to peek up at him. "…it's okay. I understand. But maybe… maybe you should try talking to Pi directly about all of this. It's okay to disagree with Yata… and I think its wonderful you care so much about us, the players in The World rather than just the game. But if all of this is about Pi, you should maybe talk to her instead of boycotting G.U.?"

"Wh-who said this was all about Pi?!" Kuhn asked, jumping away with her but the blonde caught the faintest tinge of a blush crossing his cheeks. He was a terrible liar - to women, at any rate. "Th-this is about the players, Atoli! Be serious!" With how flustered he was acting, however, she was unable to suppress a giggle.

"Of course! The players - which includes Pi!" Atoli laughed.

"Th-that isn't funny! Really Atoli, it's about… Atoli? You're not listening to me!"

* * *

_Tomorrow afternoon. How about around 18:00?_

-Haseo

_That sounds fine! I'll let him know! It'll be fun hanging with both of you again - oh, Silabus will be so excited!_

-Gaspard

...

_Silabus! : ) If you aren't too busy jogging, does tomorrow at 18:00 sound fine by you?_

-Gaspard

_Sure. I'll have all of my notes prepared! Anything you need to know, I'll help you out with! X )_

-Silabus

* * *

"There! Bo, this was a great idea!" Gaspard beamed, smiling at Bo who nodded in an excited agreement. Shortly after Endrance left, the Tu Tribe member was unable to stop the troubles from tumbling out of his mouth. The slight worries, his concerns, everything that had been happening… but, it turned out to be a great thing. He was going to hang out with Haseo, Silabus, and even Bo! Well, if he could persuade Saku to let him have a turn during that time. If not, that was okay. The blonde Shadow Warlock promised to e-mail him about it later.

"I know! We all have exams… and with everything happening, this'll be fun!" The blonde nodded in agreement. _And I know Haseo probably wants a break from all of that G.U. stuff, too… thank you, Gaspard. Oh, Haseo is going to be so happy tomorrow!_

_

* * *

_**A/N: **Muahahah!! I, the great and mighty Artificial Dreams have returned!! _Dramatic pose_ ..._Realizes no one cares_ Well, so it goes I suppose. (Hey, they rhymed!) Sorry this took so long. Looots of computer problems. And college. Fun stuff. (I have no idea what I'm doing with this fanfic, ahahahah...!) Anyway, big thanks to everyone who proposed and suggested ideas! And thank you so much for voting, as well! And hey... why not another vote? I got a really weird idea, but I don't know if it is too weird for a few of you. AzureKite/Endrance? What do you guys think? Yay? Nay? WTF? Tell me however you please, so long as it does not involve your ceasing reading this! Eheh... Anyway, rest assured that I won't do it if you guys ask me not to. Hope to see you all soon again! _Waves  
_**Disclaimer:** Own .hack series, I do not. Speak in riddles, I sometimes do. Cosplay Mistral I shall at an upcoming con... ohohoh!! Wait, that isn't part of the disclaimer...! Gahhhh, I own nothing!! Nothing except my crack-filled mind! W-well, not filled with the drug crack... more of like, a weird fangirl tendency to do very peculiar and strange things! U-uhm... ahhhh, Bandai and CC Corp... don't hurt me! I do this out of love, honest!


	7. For Yesterday

**A/N: **You guys thought this was abandoned. Nope. Just a really. Really. Obnoxiously long hiatus. That will end with super-ultra-holy-cow-why-slow updates.  
**Disclaimer:** Clearly, if I owned or was affiliated with the dotHack series _Versus_ would be available for download and so would _Link_ because seriously guys that was just mean sending over the manga but not the game..._grumps into the dark void_.

* * *

_Welcome… to The World._ That had been Haseo's greeting from his first real friend in The World. Since then, he had heard that exact same sentence repeated in all kinds of tones with a multitude of meanings in his time playing. Yet, no other voice had evoked the same horror and inspiration Ovan's simple statement had managed to instill within the newbie. Since the start of an obsession, his offline friends had waned and waxed in the time they spent with him until each and every one left him behind. Not that he blamed any of them – his time was dedicated to The World, even more so when Shino… when she went into a coma. Those were lonely, terrifying nights filled with tears created from anger and regret. He had no friends to really comfort him in those following days, not at school and not at home. Naturally, he let his comfort and hate console him. Sure, there were people in The World that cared about him and wanted to help him but he knew they could never understand. They were not him, how could they possibly understand?

Thus, that gave way to what he believed to be the birth of The Terror of Death. Now, though… after seeing the real Terror of Death, Skeith, the young Adept Rogue was aware of how delusional he had been. Haseo could still recall the expression on Bordeaux's face when she experienced the touch of the Avatar's claws and scythe. Atoli had tried to stop him, and he had not listened. She saw how much of him had become the shadow of Skeith, and as he walked towards Canard the Adept Rogue felt grateful that at least Silabus had never seen it. The Blade Brandier was a smart, intelligent young man but through e-mails and observations Haseo reached the conclusion that Silabus was surprisingly naïve and gullible for all his experience. Somehow the brunet still was under the impression that the seventeen-year old was this nice, generous person that simply pretended to be a rough, hard-boiled player. And then the female players – somehow, Silabus had yet to add two plus two to get four. In fact, Haseo had a sneaking suspicion the brunet mistook the numbers for a riddle rather than a math problem and was trying to make sense of it instead of solving. Canard had a disproportional number of female newbies, half of which were not even actual newbies. Those were just girls who made second accounts to receive assistance and be near the brunet (and possibly Haseo, too).

At any rate, Haseo was partially appreciative of that naivette. Silabus had proven to be a strangely comforting piece of support to the Adept Rogue, and even more strangely was a wake-up call. Despite everything that happened, there was always that smile to greet him even after a long day. No matter how many times he yelled or spat venom, there was the brunet laughing and waving off Haseo's anger until it dissipated beneath exasperation and confusion. And of course, because Silabus was ignorant of what was happening in The World this made him all the more vulnerable to AIDA – a weakness that all normal users shared in The World. Understandably not able to communicate with every single player on every server, that single attachment to all of them was enough to consistently strengthen the resolve to protect as many as he could. Oh, and of course stab away like a maniac in the process. Haseo was not the type to do good deeds without some sort of consolation or reward in it for him.

Pausing outside of Canard, brows furrowed he took in a deep breath. Yet, Silabus had been avoiding him lately. Was everything really suddenly okay? And what was wrong in the first place, anyway? Finally releasing a derisive snort, the Adept Rogue entered with the decision he would find out. After studying – he really did need to ace those exams. That was a bit more important than online friendships. At least, that was what he told himself. Clicking on the wooden doors and selecting the option for 'Canard' (like Hell he was going into Raven), Haseo took a deep, calming breath as the screen took a few brief seconds to load the atHome page.

The first thing to greet him was a large group of what appeared to be _several_ Canard users preparing to study. And, of course, in the center of it all was a bewildered Silabus and a nervous-looking Gaspard. The sight made Haseo grimace, and before he could even think of asking what was going on - ping!

_Haseo, I am so so sorry! We didn't plan for this AT ALL! We started setting up, and then one of the girls asked us what we were up to, so we answered because, what could it hurt? And then suddenly they were all here! ) :  
_-Gaspard

Finished reading the shortmail, the adept rogue sighed and tried to gather his patience. Really, he shouldn't have been the annoyed one - that should have been Gaspard's territory, but no... as usual, it was left to the Terror of Death to be the angry one. Did no one else at Canard ever experience that? Anger? It was like talking to Zelkova. "Hey, Zelkova, did you know Sakaki is trying to take over your guild?" "Oh is he? Oh, that Sakaki. What a silly guy." And then add Atoli in the mix "Haseo! Sakaki would never do such a thing, why do you always have to say such awful and mean things about him?"

Now add what Sakaki did to her recently, "He didn't mean it, Haseo! He's just... a little... misguided."

Right Mental Atoli. Right.

"Haseo? Are you... joining us?" Silabus' hesitant voice cut through Haseo's internal discussion with his head canon of how Atoli and Zelkova acted, and he snapped back to the game.

"Oh. Yeah, uh... I guess so. If there's even room." At that, Haseo narrowed his eyes at several of the guys and tried to look as intimidating as the graphics would allow. Three girls made swooning sounds, and he had to wonder what kind of people were joining these days. He was pretty confident one of them even murmured, "Please touch me," in a very, very quiet tone.

The ones not currently thinking inappropriate thoughts were coherent enough to get the hint, and scooted aside to make room for their guild master - who all the while grumbled about this while joining to sit with them on the floor. The brunet watched all this with an uncertain smile, scratching the back of his head and trying to figure out how he was even going to make this work. Helping just Gaspard was one thing, but now... now there was a total of ten people. One of whom simply had to be there to give him a sense of guilt.

"All right... uhm, I didn't necessarily make _plans_ for there to be so many... how about this. Tell me what grades you're currently in, and what you're going into. Maybe we can all help each other study? I can't help out multiple grades at once, so..." Silabus trailed, and outside of the game Yuichi was chewing on his lower lip. This was getting complicated. He had been volunteering his time to help out, but never with tutoring. This was a new experience, and while he was glad to do it...

...warning would have been nice, too.

One by one, the Canard members began listing their grades with the only exception to sharing that sort of personal information being Haseo (whom firmly reminded Silabus he already knew that why should he have to repeat that). And, naturally, all of the girls cooed over Gaspsard when learning how young he was. Which ate up several precious minutes in the adept rogue's opinion. After that, Silabus began pairing up individuals and asking them to start listing their weak points and strong points while he gathered 'more materials.' What did he even mean by materials?

_Hey, Gaspard. Has Silabus been acting kind of... weird to you?  
_-Haseo

_Not weird, no... but he's been super worried about stuff. He told me he can't talk about it, because he's not even sure he's supposed to know about it. Sorry I can't tell you more. ) ;  
_-Gaspsard

Well, that certainly made Haseo raise a brow.

_That's fine. Thanks for telling me what you do know._  
-Haseo

That was an interesting piece of information. Was that related to why the brunet seemed to be avoiding him? Mulling over that, it certainly made sense. If Silabus knew something he shouldn't, he did seem the type to feel guilty about it. Not that seeming the type and actually being the type was one in the same, but it was progress on at least that mystery. But what could it be? There were so many possibilities. The green blade brandier was a friendly guy, he talked to all types of people. Speaking to someone who knew Haseo during times of the Twilight Brigade, there was plenty just from a casual conversation could reveal. In which case did that mean the brunet... could he have heard about Shino?

That topic made a lot of people suddenly very, very uncomfortable around the adept rogue.

"Haseo, have you made your list?" Once more, it was Silabus who brought him back to The World.

"What list?" Haseo snapped, quicker to cover with annoyance than with embarassment. At that, the brunet laughed slightly - an improvement to what might have been nervous a few days ago.

"The one that says what you're best in literature, what you're worst in... I'm going to put together a bunch of websites with useful information on what you need help in, that way if you ever need help when I'm not here, you have some resources on hand." Silabus explained. A few of the girls giggled, and suddenly Haseo felt like he was in a real classroom with his homeroom teaching in that same patient voice, asking him if he needed to see the nurse, he fell asleep in class again... gritting his teeth, Haseo shot the girls a seething look, making them stop immediately.

"Yeah, I get _why_ you need it... look, if we're just getting together to sit down and exchange web pages, I might as well just look for them on my own." Haseo snorted, immediately standing up with the brunet moving out of his way.

"No, Haseo that isn't what I-"

"There's too many people here anyway. You all have fun studying." And with that, the guild master exited Canard to try and let his frustration out somewhere that didn't have feelings. Left standing there in a bewildered silence, Silabus glanced back at Gaspard with a concerned expression.

"Oh... well, that's all right then... we still have each other, right? L-let's get back to studying..." Silabus tried to keep his words solid, to not let the shakiness out. But his nerves felt frazzled - it took a lot of effort to do his best to act casual around Haseo, since the adept rogue apparently _did_ want help... but what set the other off? The adept rogue was always a little on the grumpy side, with certain words or topics suddenly making him more of a grouch. He considered running after the other, but then he'd let all these girls and Gaspard down. Resigning with helping the most, he would figure out Haseo later. Somehow.

...

...

...

"Oh, Haseo... you're out much sooner than I expected." Endrance greeted, the serenity of him standing there marred by Saku's impatient tapping of her foot.

"About time you stopped making Master En wait around all day for you." Saku huffed, crossing her arms indignantly. The two standing there caused Haseo's frown to deepen - what were these two even doing here? Didn't they have something better to do? Other ways of playing The World than essentially _stalking _him?

"Is something wrong, Haseo?" Endrance asked, the disgruntled expression not going unnnoticed. The adept rogue waved his question off, and tried to will his player character to take the longest strides imaginable to get away from these two.

"What is it?" He asked, wasting not time with pleasantries - mostly because he just plain wasn't feeling pleasant.

"I just thought you would like to know Kuhn has rejoined G.U... it appears someone convinced him to speak with Pi." Explained the Macha Epitaph. Pausing in his subtle attempt to get away, Haseo's shoulders relaxed every-so-slightly. Well. There was some good news for the day (well, he supposed Silabus started to act normally around him again and possibly knowing why he was to begin with was good news, but that good news had been marred with a bad experience).

"And don't walk away from Master En like that! Augh! You're so rude!" Saku vented in the background, her words making no effect on either male within hearing vicinity. "Master En, now that he knows can we just go now? Please? We can go wherever you like!" She pleaded, and batted her eyes up at her personal lord and savior.

"You should probably go level-grind with her... since Yata's making you two work so much." Haseo grumbled, deciding he would throw the girl a bone of once.

"Of course... before we go, do you need anything else of me?" Endrance asked. Pausing, the adept rogue mulled over the question. The violet blade brandier was unusually complicated in his simplicity. He was a person who simply needed to _be_ needed, and there was a stark difference between being needed and being used. Finding the line was the hard part, and so far it seemed Endrance recognized Haseo never wanted to cross that line and was aware of its existence. Perhaps that was why, despite how much Saku adored the man, Endrance never really responded to him. She wanted him, but... not quite needed.

"I always need your help in some way or another. You're definitely helping me with AIDA. You were an amazing help at the tournament..." Haseo paused, and then looked at him. "What kind of things do you like helping with?"

"If you need 'help' with something, you have plenty of people you can ask for it. But if you need anything of me, please know I am always willing to offer my anything and everything you require." Endrance said in his airy voice, and with that headed to the Warp Point with Saku scuttling after (and sticking her tongue out at the adept rogue while she did it - the little ungrateful brat).

That was some kind of food for thought, though. Put a certain perspective on his world - what did he need? What did he just want help for? He thought he could figure out the differences when Endrance asked him questions like that, but he had been proven wrong. The differences were so minor, naturally only someone like the Macha Epitaph would even notice. AIDA was something he wanted help with, because he needed what Yata promised with it. He wanted to know what was going on in Silabus' head, but that wasn't a need. Was it? Did he _need_ to know? Not knowing wasn't life-threatening... he supposed. On the other hand, what if Silabus knew something he shouldn't? Depending on what that was, it could be life-threatening.

Shaking his head, realizing this was getting him nowhere fast, Haseo just signed out of The World to check his e-mail before bed.

...

...

...

Clapping her hands together, Atoli tried to not dance as well in her joy. "I'm so happy you two talked and worked it out!" The blonde cheered happily.

"It wasn't just 'us two!' It was me, Pi, _and_ Yata. This was a me and G.U. issue, not a me and Pi issue!" Kuhn tried to remind her, only to get a sinking feeling when she beamed even more at him.

"I never said it was just you and Pi, you _assumed_ I was thinking that... is it because it's true?" Atoli smiled, further flustering the steam gunner.

"It's not that... ugh. I just assumed you were thinking that because of our last conversation! Listen, I only went back because by acting separately the ones suffering the most are you guys - you have two different people asking you to do two completely different things... and ultimately, less gets done and I wear out the people I care about. Does that make sense? It has nothing to do with some kind of personal issue we have. I just... want to clarify that, okay?" Kuhn asked, hoping she would listen to him and take him seriously.

"Oh... I, I know that Kuhn. But you can't completely deny the fact that there's something personal between you two." Before he could interupt, she held up her hand.

"You always put the players first - you've always had. That's why you founded Canard, right? You want everyone to enjoy the game, and want to protect that feeling. I believe that's a wonderful thing! But you also keep talking about how you're going to make Pi's number your thousandth... or something like that..." She trailed, twiddling her fingers.

"...yeah, well... have you seen her player character? I mean, talk about a figure-eight!" Kuhn laughed, quickly taking the opportunity to turn the situation from a serious something he was trying to avoid to a playful something. It worked, the blonde immediately taking the bait and turning a bright red.

"K-Kuhn! Th-that's not how you talk about a lady!" Atoli flailed, shaking her head.

"Is he being disrespectful to you?" Alkaid's voice carried easily over the droning conversation that surrounded the two in Dol Dona.

"What? No, to Miss Pi!" Atoli explained, pointing an accusing finger at the blue-haired male who just gave a lopsided grin.

"Now now, don't let _Pi_ hear you call her a _Miss_..." Kuhn informed her, laughing awkwardly.

"Wow, do you get all the girls' member addresses that way?" Alkaid asked, frowning in slight disapproval.

"You two really don't let a guy explain himself..." Kuhn laughed, looking between the two female players. "And... what are you doing here?"

"Watching ohmRice and Kaki Leader flirt without even knowing that's what they're doing because those two are both dense eggheads. What about you two?" Alkaid answered easily, crossing her arms and looking between the two. The blank looks she got told her neither followed the forums too closely.

"Oh... I was going to head over to Canard, see if I can catch Haseo before he leaves after the study session. And then I saw Kuhn, and I had to tell him how happy I was he and Pi resolved some of their issues like mature adults!" Atoli explained with a bright smile, glad to offer her excuse.

"Actually, I had a prior engagement that I can't really put off any longer... sorry you two! Maybe another day!" Kuhn laughed, rushing out of the way of Alkaid's hands before she could grab hold of his obnoxiously long blue ponytail. As he almost literally slipped through her fingers, the redhead scowled while he make the clean get-away.

"Almost had him, too." She huffed, and turned to the blonde, the discovery the two were standing alone occuring to her suddenly and abruptly. _And I'm the one calling others eggheads._ She thought with a sigh. "Uh... so... Haseo signed off..."

"H-he what?!" Atoli gasped, quickly checking her member's list. Sure enough, he wasn't there. "Oh no, I missed my chance!" Pouting, she exited out of the smaller window to get a better view of Dol Dona. Still standing there in front of her was Alkaid, eyes glued to a see a little ways to the side. Curious, she turned around to see what she was staring at. There were two male players, one of them yelling something about butts. Flushing at what the discussion could be, she looked back at the other. "So..." What could they talk about?

"You could always e-mail him." Alkaid pointed out with a slight smile. "He checks his e-mail before he logs into The World, and right after he logs out. Sometimes you can catch him when he checks his e-mail from his phone, too."

"How do you know all this?" Atoli's eyes widened, her mind racing with countless possibilities. Actually, with only about two or three and each of them had some kind of twist of a romance the adept rogue and twin blade shared.

"Silabus." Alkaid explained with a slight shrug. "They e-mail a lot back and forth. Canard stuff, mostly, but it sounds like sometimes they end up talking, too." She elaborated further. Her words putting forth a small ease to her concerns, Atoli felt the hammering of her heart slow down. Then she felt silly - why should it matter to her if Alkaid and Haseo _did_ have romantic feelings for each other? But wait... how did Alkaid know Silabus!? The hammering immediately returned.

"You... you know Silabus?" Atoli gasped.

"...is that really so surprising? Yeah. He and I go way back. Though, admittedly we don't really know each other as well as we used to... this was all back when I was still Demon Palace Emperor. Before that stupid cheater waltzed in..." There were some things Alkaid wasn't sure she would ever stop being sore about. "But we still e-mail each other, send the occasional shortmail." Alkaid then started to laugh. "Why is that surprising? You've met Silabus! He's one of the friendlist guys on here! Actually, sometimes I think between you and him, Haseo's really started to warm up to talking to people. He was such a little brat when we first met, hah." It felt good to laugh. Mostly at Haseo's expense by the end, especially when she remembered him first entering Icolo. Was he even at level twenty by then? She couldn't remember, it felt like forever ago.

"O-oh... I had no idea... I guess I don't know much about you or Silabus..." Atoli trailed, looking down. "I'm sorry... all these assumptions, I should have just asked..."  
"What are you talking about? You just asked." Alkaid raised a brow, but her lips tugged upwards in a slight smile. "How about this? We can start e-mailing each other. Deal?" The redhead's smile turned into a full-on grin. "We can get to know each other, get rid of assumptions on both sides. Right?"

"...yeah, okay! Right! In fact! I'll sign off now, and after I finish my e-mail to Haseo, I'll send one to you! Okay?"

"It's a deal!"


End file.
